AIM: To observe the change of retinal structure and function in macular area of patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy(PDR) before and after vitrectomy. METHODS: Thirty-three patients (44 eyes)of PDR with vitrectomy and 30 cases ( 44 eyes)of normal control group were inspected with optical coherence tomography(OCT) and multifocal electroretinogram(mf-ERG), the change of retinal thickness in macular area and amplitude densities and latencies of P1 wave and N1 wave （5 rings and 4 quadrants）were observed before and after vitrectomy and normal control group. RESULTS: Patients were followed up 2 months，normal control group and patients with PDR before and after vitrectomy pairwise comparison: normal control group and patients group before and after vitrectomy about amplitude densities of P1 wave（five rings and four quadrants） were pairwise compared， the differences were statistically significant（P＜0.05);for the latencies of P1 wave, the normal control group compared with the preoperative patients about the first ring, the normal control group compared with postoperative patients about the third,forth,fifth ring，the normal control group compared with postoperative patients about the second,third quadrant, the differences were not statistically significant （P＞0.05）, the rest were statistically significant (P＜0.05); the amplitude of N1 wave about the first ring in normal control group compared with postoperative patients, the differences were not statistically significant （P＞0.05），the rest were statistically significant （P＜0.05); the latencies of N1 wave about the third ring in preoperative patients compared with postoperative patients, the differences were not statistically significant （P＞0.05）, the rest were statistically significant （P＜0.05); normal control group and patients with PDR before and after vitrectomy were pairwise compared in central fovea of macula about retinal thickness , the differences were statistically significant（P＜0.05）. CONCLUSION: Vitrectomy can improve photosensitive and conductive function of the retina effectively, thus becoming an effective way for the treatment of the disease and to improve part of the vision .