Q: My 73 years old diabetic father has a problem in his eyes. He wears glasses since the age of 11 years. His blood sugar level is well controlled. Recently he went for an eye check-up and got optical coherence tomography (OCT) and Fluorescein Angiography (FFA) test done. The doctor told us that he has retinal fluid in the right eye and has a vision of 3 feet distance only. The retinal thickness is 554; microns at A-Scan is 219. The doctor recommended the following treatment - an injection in the right eye followed by 2 weeks of observation and then two or three sittings of laser treatment to reduce the fluid and a cataract surgery, if necessary. He also told that with retinal fluid, cataract surgery would aggravate the condition and it is the retinal fluid that needs to be treated first. Is this correct? Please advise.

A:Longstanding diabetes can lead to retinal ischaemia causing fluid collection in the retina and affecting vision. I am assuming he has been diagnosed with diabetic retinal changes. OCT an extremely sensitive test, something like a microCT scan of the retina which picks up changes which are not seen by the naked eye.

I think you should go ahead with the retinal treatment advised to you and then hope for some improvement in vision. Following that he can undergo cataract surgery as advised by the retina specialist.