Diabetes rates are rising all over the world and Diabetic Retinopathy (DR), one of the most frequent complications of diabetes, affects approximately 50% of diabetic subjects.

The purpose of this prospective study was to investigate the onset and course of diabetic retinopathy, the incidence of macular edema and visual outcome following uncomplicated phacoemulsification with Posterior Chamber Intra Ocular Lens implantation in a group of well controlled diabetic patients with cataractwith or without mild/moderate nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy and without Clinically Significant Macular Edema at baseline.

This study was done at the Regional Institute of Ophthalmology, Kolkata. Patients who gave informed consent and those meeting inclusion criteria were randomly selected from the outpatient department. 60 eyes of 60 consecutive diabetic patients having cataract with well controlled systemic parameters were included in the study conductedfrom January 2012 to June 2013.

Follow up was done for 6 months. Statistical analysis was done by chi square and Fisher's exact test.

The progression of diabetic retinopathy was statistically more significant in DR group compared to no DR group.

Also, statistically significant post operative improvement of VA in no DR group compared to DR group was seen.

≥ 40 letters improvement occurred in 79.5 % of cases of without Macular Edema (ME) group whereas 27.2% of cases achieved the same in the macular edema group.

We found that the progression of diabetic retinopathy was 18.3% which was significantly more (29%) in DR group compared to 11% in No DR group. We also found that the incidence of ME is 18% which exclusively appeared in postoperative DR group. In conclusion, diabetic patients scheduled for cataract extraction should be informed that surgery may have an adverse influence on diabetic retinopathy and that this may affect the final visual outcome and expectation.