Bariatric surgery might aggravate proliferative diabetic retinopathy

Purpose This study aimed to assess the changes experienced by patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) after bariatric surgery (BS). Methods This retrospective observational study includes 37 eyes of 21 patients with PDR who underwent BS at a tertiary university hospital over the period of 2014–2018. The control group (CG) comprised 37 eyes of 27 patients with PDR who attended the same research hospital for diabetes care without undergoing BS. Preoperative and postoperative glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) levels, weight and diabetic retinopathy screening results were collected from the medical records of the patients. Patients who had undergone preoperative retinal screening and at least one postoperative retinal screening were included in the analysis. Results Both groups exhibited statistically significant visual acuity (VA) loss at 6 months and 1 year (p