Background: Diabetic Maculopathy is a common complication of diabetes mellitus, characterized by macularedema and frequently accompanied by lipid exudation. It is the major cause of loss of vision from diabetic retinopathy.

Purpose: To assess the changes in central macular thickness in diabetics with different stages of retinopathy and in non-diabetic controls.

Materials and Methods: This retrospective observational study was conducted in the

Department of Ophthalmology in Maharishi Markandeshwar Medical College & Hospital, Solan, H.P, India. It was conducted on 100 eyes of 50 diabetics and non-diabetics each and  the data records of 50 random patients of diabetic retinopathy, on whom FFA for studying the severity of diabetic retinopathy as well as OCT (Cirrus HD-OCT 500) for macular thickness was performed .Comparison of  central macular thickness with increasing severity of diabetic retinopathy was done.

Results: The mean age of patients and the mean central macular thickness in the study population was found to be 55.7±9.05 years and 297.12±95.8 µm. Whereas in the control group the mean central macular thicknes was calculated to be 211.06±7.6 µm. Central macular Thickness was found to be directly proportional to increasing stage of Diabetic Retinopathy.

Conclusion: OCT is a very sensitive tool for detection of macular oedema even in the stages when there is no suspicion of clinically significant macular oedema. It can be used in the regular follow up and monitoring of patients with diabetic retinopathy.

Keywords: Central Macular Thickness, Diabetic Macular oedema, OCT.

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