The First Case of Diabetic Retinopathy

Abstract

We have before us the plates and documentation of a case of retinitis (retinopathy) in diabetes mellitus, the first of its kind. It derives from the Beiträge zur Pathologie des Auges by Eduard von Jaeger for the year 1855. That it was the first such case we have the best guarantor, Theodor Leber. In 1875, he collected the cases from the literature — there were 19 in all, of which Jaeger’s case was the first — and coined the term retinitis diabe-tica. So characterized, Jaeger’s case wanders through the literature. After Leber he found no-one more appreciative. We thought it stimulating as well as conducive to the continuity of research to exhibit this case.