Lens fluorescence in relation to metabolic control of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.

The correlation of blue-green lens fluorescence to the metabolic control of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus was studied in 36 patients in whom the level of glycosylated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) had been followed from the onset of diabetes. Good metabolic control (22 patients, all with mean HbA1c levels, less than 7.0% and, thus, low blood glucose concentrations) was associated with less lens fluorescence and a higher lens transmittance than poor metabolic control (14 patients, all with mean HbA1c levels, greater than 9.7%). It appears that in diabetes, an increase in lens fluorescence and a decrease in lens transmittance are delayed by good metabolic control, and that the determination of lens fluorescence provides information about the long-term control of diabetes.