Objective To observe retinal thickness changes of diabetes patients after shortterm insulin intensive treatment. Methods Thirty-two eyes of 32 diabetes patients with non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy who underwent short-term insulin intensive treatment were enrolled in this study. There were 12 males and 20 females. The patients aged from 35 to 72 years with a mean age of (56plusmn;9) years. The macular edema index (MED) and morphosis parameter of the optic disc including cup area (CA), rim area (RA), cup volume (CV), rim volume (RV), mean retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (mRNFLT), height variation contour (HVC), the ratio of cup/rim area (C/DAR) in all the patients were measured by Heidelberg retinal tomography Ⅱ (HRTⅡ) before treatment and at the 1st, 3rd and 6th month after treatment. The repeated measurement and leastsignificant difference (LSD) pairwise comparison statistical methods were used to analyze the data. Results At the 1st, 3rd and 6th month after treatment, the 1string and the 2nd-ring MED both decreased after treatment, which were significantly different compared with before treatment (1st-ring: t=2.169, 2.261, 2.306; P＜0.05. 2nd-ring: t=2.293, 2.147, 2.038; P＜0.05).There was no significant difference on the 3rd-ring MED between before and after treatment (t=1.719, 1.145, 1.280; P＞0.05). There was no significant difference in CA, RA, CV, RV, mRNFLT and C/DAR between before and after treatment. There was significant difference in HVC between before treatment and at the 1st month after treatment (t=-2.242, P=0.037), but no significant differences at the 3rd and 6th month after treatment (t=-1.485, -0.527; P＞0.05). Conclusions The MED of diabetes patients decreases within six months after short-term insulin intensive treatment, but there is no obvious change in morphosis parameters of the optic disc.