The good news is that most cases of severe vision loss due to diabetes are preventable; the bad news is that tens of thousands of people lose vision to diabetes each year despite all we know about prevention and treatment. Indeed, diabetes is a leading cause of vision loss around the world. Compared with the general population, people with diabetes have a 25-fold increased risk of blindness. Diabetic retinopathy – damage to the light-sensitive membrane lining the inside back wall of the eyes – is the most common cause of new blindness in working-aged adults living in industrialized nations. In this report, Paul Chous recommends strategies for minimizing the risk of diabetesrelated eye damage – which can also help to prevent other diabetes complications.