25 EyeWorld Asia-Pacific | December 2024 by Liz Hillman, Editorial Co-Director CATARACT Floaters Getting In The Way Of Postop Patient Happiness? According to one survey, 76% of a population (age 29.5±10.7 years) experience visual symptoms attributed to floaters.1 These wispy veils/curtains, cobweb-like threads, or thick diffuse clouds (three ways that Dagny Zhu, MD, describes different categories of vitreous opacities) can impact patient perception and happiness with their vision after cataract surgery. While there are treatment options for floaters, there is some division as to methods of treatment, especially as YAG laser vitreolysis is becoming more common. Regardless, all of the physicians who spoke with EyeWorld on the topic—Dr. Zhu as a cataract surgeon, and Christina Y. Weng, MD, MBA, and Steve Charles, MD, as retina specialists—said they advise patients complaining of floaters to wait at least 6 months before pursuing treatment. “I say [to patients]: ‘These floaters will get less obvious with time.’ Then I say, ‘I didn’t say they would go away. … I mean it when I say they’ll get less obvious with time, but if you look at a blue sky or a white sheet of paper, you’ll still see them. If you look at a blank computer screen, you’ll still see them,’” Dr. Charles said, adding that he tells patients that he also has floaters, but he still performs complex medical procedures and flies jets. “I try to put the perspective that way.” What’s the impact? Dr. Weng said that floaters can be “extremely bothersome” to patients, but she added, “I think we are often too dismissive of the symptoms they cause.” “Many patients have come to me after their cataract surgery unhappy with their surgical outcome even if they were 20/15 uncorrected,” she said. “There was one study (Left) Vitreous veil with a small hole created at the beginning of a YAG laser session. (Right) Large posterior Weiss ring seen at YAG laser with mid-vitreous lens. Source: Dagny Zhu, MD
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