THE SIGNIFICANCE OF CONJUNCTIVAL ANEURYSMS IN DIABETICS* BY

VASCULAR disease in diabetes remains a major problem yet to be solved. Retinal haemorrhages and retinal exudates have been considered diagnostic signs of diabetes and, although many have clung to the belief that these are arteriosclerotic or renal in nature, proof that they are diabetic in origin is accumulating. Ballantyne (1943) demonstrated that some of the small spots of blood seen in the retina, which previously were considered haemorrhages, were actually aneurysms. He described them as being small, spherical forms attached to the finer perimacular venules like berries to twigs. He also demonstrated changes in the retinal veins, consisting of general and localized expansions, beading, loops, kinks, diverticula, fine new vessels on the surface of the retina, and new vessels projecting into the vitreous. He further noted fatty degeneration in the vessel walls, including the capillaries, and felt that ectasiae leading to aneurysms develope