The prevalence of diabetic macular edema (DME) is continuously rising worldwide and has become one of the major causes of vision loss in the working-age population. Clinical parameters and new diagnostic parameters from imaging with optical coherence tomography (OCT) as well as the overall advances of OCT technology have been identified to stage the disease. However, a large variety of therapeutic strategies are available to the ophthal mologist: laser photocoagulation, antivascular endothe lial growth factor (VEGF), steroid and surgical therapy are applied with different procedures and their own complications. A novel era of DME therapy has started with these diverse approaches. These guidelines shall give an overview on the current available diagnostic and therapeutic procedures and recommend their application.