Retinopathy and plasma growth hormone levels in idiopathic hemochromatosis with diabetes.

In patients with idiopathic hemochromatosis, retinopathy was investigated by ophthalmoscopy and fluorescein angiography and was present in eight out of 23; this prevalence is similar to that reported in patients with diabetes aged between 30 and 60 years at onset of diabetes and with the same duration of the disease; in these eight patients retinopathy was of mild degree, with no impairment of visual acuity, fewer than 10 microaneurysms in each fundus, and no other retinal abnormatic islets directly. These studies confirm that anticholinergic drugs may be useful adjuvants in treating these patients.