McAnany JJ, Park JC, Liu K, et al. - In diabetics who have minimal or no diabetic retinopathy (DR), researchers intended to determine if there is an association between contrast sensitivity (CS) and outer-retina thickness (ORT). For this investigation, 20 non-diabetic control individuals and 40 type-2 diabetic patients participated (20 had no clinically apparent DR [NDR] and 20 had mild non-proliferative DR [NPDR]). No individual had a history of macular oedema treatment. Letter CS, microperimetry (MP) sensitivity and visual acuity (VA) have been measured. Findings suggested an association of outer-retina thickness with letter CS and MP sensitivity, but not VA, in mild NPDR. This outcome highlights the utility of simple letter CS measures and suggests that in the absence of marked structural abnormalities in early-stage DR, neural dysfunction may occur.