Can DME Be Cured?
Treatment for diabetic macular edema is highly effective. Learn what's possible.
Frank Siringo, M.D., O.D., chief of vitreoretinal diseases and surgery at Omni Eye Specialists in Denver, answers the most important question about DME: Is it curable? The answer is surprisingly positive.
I think it's safe to say that DME can be cured. There is a treatment course that usually has a finite end and at the end of that treatment course, we're pretty much done.
The great news about anti VEGF drugs is that as we treat a patient's DME, the overall severity of their diabetic retinopathy goes down. A patient who may have been approaching that proliferative stage, where they need laser treatment, they very often will back away to a much milder form of diabetic retinopathy.
Now, can DME come back after an interval of a certain amount of years, yes. Patients with diabetes, again, will always need to have their eyes checked. This is a treatment with a generally good prognosis and a finite end.
