What do you mean by "the beginning of retinopathy"?
I have, in the past, been diagnosed with "background retinopathy". Is this the same thing?
Background retinopathy can be reversed through good BG control.
Furthermore, I have been told that retinopathy is diagnosed through manual checking of retinal scans. What someone may think of as a tiny retinal bleed may be considered to be a blip on a photo by someone else - it quite subjective.
Whatever it is (or isn't), I believe the best thing to do is maintain good BG control and look after yourself.