OF THE degenerative changes of diabetes mellitus, retinopathy is one of the more serious for the patient and has been the subject of increasing study in the past few years. Much progress has been made in knowledge of the pathology and the specificity of the lesion. It has been demonstrated that the characteristic lesion of diabetic retinopathy is the capillary aneurysm.1 These aneurysms appear as pinpoint dots, which were previously thought to be punctate hemorrhages. Punctate hemorrhages do occur and are difficult to distinguish ophthalmoscopically from the aneurysms. The hemorrhages tend to change fairly rapidly, while the aneurysms remain unchanged for longer periods. Other retinal hemorrhages, of varying sizes, may be located in the superficial or the deep layers of the retina. New hemorrhages tend to occur in showers. Hard, yellowish, discrete exudates may also be seen, as well as phlebosclerosis. Diabetic retinopathy is generally progressive, but remissions occur.