The process of evaluation of diabetic macular edema will help illustrate the role of the OPT macula thickness report. In diabetic macular edema there is a breakdown in the blood retina barrier, which can lead to focal and/or diffuse edema (or thickening) of the macula. The report of the thickness of each subfield area of the macula grid will help direct treatment. For instance, laser treatment to a specific thickened quadrant would be expected to reduce the thickness of retina in the treated zone. Serial comparisons of OPT thicknesses should demonstrate a reduction in thickness in the successfully treated zone. A zone that subsequently became thicker on follow-up scans may warrant further treatment. In addition to an expected local response to specific zonal treatment such as laser, there are treatments with drugs and biologics that are less localized. For instance, the injection of intravitreal drugs in a successfully treated eye would be expected to have a global reduction of thickness in all zones with DME. Patients with severe retinal disease may lose the ability to fixate making the acquisition of OPT images to represent a specific zone less reliable.