Yes, diabetes can cause blindness. Ocular complications of diabetes include glaucoma, cataracts and, most commonly, retinopathy. All these complications require medical attention otherwise the outcome is blindness. Retinopathy may be proliferative and non-proliferative. Non-proliferative retinopathy presents with intra-retinal and pre-retinal hemorrhage, soft and hard exudates, sacculations and venous dilations causing blindness. Proliferative retinopathy develops due to hypoxia-induced over-expression of VEGF leading to neovascularization and fibrosis. There are vitreous hemorrhages and retinal detachment exclusively causing blindness.