The eye is sometimes said to provide a window into the health of a person for it is only in the eye that one can actually see the exposed flesh of the subject without using invasive procedures. That ‘exposed flesh’ is, of course, the retina, the light sensitive layer at the back of the eye. There are a number of diseases, particularly vascular disease, that leave tell-tale markers in the retina. The retina can be photographed relatively straightforwardly with a fundus camera and now with direct digital imaging there is much interest in computer analysis of retinal images for identifying and quantifying the effects of diseases such as diabetes.