SummaryIt is generally admitted that 30 % of diabetic patients show retinal changes. These are first venous microaneurysms. Later, haemorrhages and exsudates appear. These changes arc not thought to be specifically diabetic, although they are quite distinct from hypertensive changes. Nevertheless, most observ- ators correlate diabetic retinopathy with vascular changes shown in coronary, peripheral and renal vasculatures.We have not been able to find such a relation in our cases, except for renal lesions.Capillary fragility has been studied in some diabetic patients with retinopathy. Capillary fragility was increased in eight. This point should he reinvestigated in a larger group of diabetic patients.In some apparently normal individuals, routine ophthalmoscopy has shown diabetic retinal changes. All these patients show a decreased glucose tolerance curve.