Hafner J, Zadrazil M, Grisold A, et al. - In this prospective, cross-sectional study, researchers identified the extent of retinal and corneal neurodegeneration and studied the connection with intra-epidermal neuronal loss and diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) in type 2 diabetes. Single-center study of 94 patients with type 2 diabetes (157 eyes), stratified into groups: no diabetic retinopathy (DR, n = 68), non-proliferative (NPDR, n = 48) and proliferative DR (PDR, n = 41). Only the peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer in PDR vs "no DR" eyes was decreased among neuroretinal layers and only after outliers were excluded. Findings suggested that retinal neurodegenerative changes may occur regardless of the DR-defining microvascular changes. In advanced DR stages, corneal and intra-epidermal neuronal loss is more pronounced, indicating a positive correlation of severity between DR and DPN.