FLOATERS
What are floaters? Essentially you are seeing your own vitreous gel "float" around the back of your eye casting a shadow on your retina. Sudden onset floaters may signify a more serious condition like a Retinal Tear/Detachment or bleeding from Diabetic Retinopathy.
But here we are talking about those annoying "bugs", "spots", "spider-webs" people describe that move around in their vision. 80 percent of your eye is filled with "vitreous", a gel like material. When first born this gel is extremely thick and adherent to the back of the eye (retina). Imagine a clear bowl of Jello. As we age the vitreous begins to liquefy. Now imagine that Jello melting. So now you have parts of that gel that are still solid and parts that are liquid. Hence you see one form of gel floating within the other. It's most prominent in bright light, sunny days or when looking at a bright computer monitor.
At some point the gel completely liquefies and it pulls away from the retina entirely. This is called a Posterior Vitreous Detachment (PVD). Most people have this occur in their 60's and 70's though it can happen at any age. At this point there is usually a sudden onset of new floaters and possibly "flashes" of light. Have it checked out by an ophthalmologist for possible retinal tears, etc.
There is only one way to truly remove floaters...Vitrectomy. Now there are a handful of doctors out there who do an office based YAG laser to break up larger floaters. However it doesn't get rid of them like a vitrectomy.
With a pars plana vitrectomy we completely remove the vitreous gel so there are no more floaters. There are risks with this procedure such as cataract formation, retinal tears/detachment, etc. all of which are very low. Patients are extremely happy with the results. It's an outpatient surgery with little to no discomfort afterwards. If your floaters are significant than this surgery may be quite satisfying.
But here we are talking about those annoying "bugs", "spots", "spider-webs" people describe that move around in their vision. 80 percent of your eye is filled with "vitreous", a gel like material. When first born this gel is extremely thick and adherent to the back of the eye (retina). Imagine a clear bowl of Jello. As we age the vitreous begins to liquefy. Now imagine that Jello melting. So now you have parts of that gel that are still solid and parts that are liquid. Hence you see one form of gel floating within the other. It's most prominent in bright light, sunny days or when looking at a bright computer monitor.
At some point the gel completely liquefies and it pulls away from the retina entirely. This is called a Posterior Vitreous Detachment (PVD). Most people have this occur in their 60's and 70's though it can happen at any age. At this point there is usually a sudden onset of new floaters and possibly "flashes" of light. Have it checked out by an ophthalmologist for possible retinal tears, etc.
There is only one way to truly remove floaters...Vitrectomy. Now there are a handful of doctors out there who do an office based YAG laser to break up larger floaters. However it doesn't get rid of them like a vitrectomy.
With a pars plana vitrectomy we completely remove the vitreous gel so there are no more floaters. There are risks with this procedure such as cataract formation, retinal tears/detachment, etc. all of which are very low. Patients are extremely happy with the results. It's an outpatient surgery with little to no discomfort afterwards. If your floaters are significant than this surgery may be quite satisfying.
