Lens implantation and diabetes mellitus.

In a series of 1,160 implant cases, 82 patients were diabetic. In this subgroup, lenses were implanted in 87 eyes, and a visual acuity of 6/12 (20/40) or better was obtained in 77 (88.6%) of the patients, which compared well with the nondiabetic control group of 1,078 cases. Only patients with normal fundi or minimal background retinopathy were operated on, and the visual results obtained were independent of the diabetic medical management.