Treatment of diabetic macular edema: a comparison between argon and dye lasers.

To compare the efficacy of argon green and dye yellow photocoagulations, 85 eyes of 85 diabetic patients with diffuse macular edema were included in a prospective randomized clinical trial. One year after treatment, visual acuity was unchanged or better in 85.1% of eyes treated with an argon and 89.5% of eyes treated with a dye laser. A reduction of macular edema was accomplished in 67.3% of eyes in the argon-laser group and in 71.1% of eyes in the dye-laser group. No statistically significant differences were observed between the two groups in regard to visual acuity results or the reduction of macular edema.