Corneal changes in diabetes mellitus

Diabetes mellitus is a major disease worldwide, and the prevalence of diabetes has risen significantly in the past several decades. Although one of the major complications of diabetic eyes is diabetic retinopathy (DR), corneal diseases can not only develop in diabetic patients but are also difficult to manage. Diabetic neurotrophic keratopathy is a component of diabetic polyneuropathy and is recognized to be the cause of the morbidity of the cornea in diabetic patients. In addition, corneal endothelial cell damage can cause disturbances in the management of proliferative DR before and after surgeries because of endothelial decompensation with bullous keratopathy. However, there have been only a limited number of studies that have focused on the importance of corneal diseases in diabetic patients. This review describes the pathophysiological roles of different factors that have been found to be causative factors of diabetic corneal keratopathy and endothelial cell dysfunction in diabetic patients. In addition, the clinical features of the corneal changes in diabetic patients and recent studies related to the development of therapies for the management of corneal diseases are presented.