Wondering if anyone has had an FOV, Floaters Only Vitrectomy

Posted by susan2018 @susan2018, Mar 6, 2019

I am wondering if anyone has had an FOV, Floaters Only Vitrectomy, and would be willing to share their experiences. For at least two years I was plagued with the constant irritating presence of gauzy, wispy, moving clumps that would obscure my vision and make reading and driving a tiring challenge. Prior to this I had had cataract surgery and a lens exchange surgery. Many, many follow up appointments and a second opinion did not pinpoint a reason for my continuing complaints. Although I did not complain of dry eyes, I was led to believe that was my issue and was treated with Xiidra and then Restasis and then even both at the same time, with no improvement in my symptoms. Finally a follow up appointment with a new ophthalmologist in the practice and my description of what I was seeing led to a diagnosis of a degenerating vitreous and a referral to a vitreal surgeon. Last week I had a vitrectomy to remove the vitreous. Despite the after effects of the surgery, the next day when the eye patch and bandages came off, I could immediately tell that my vision in that eye had cleared. It has been such a relief! I am hoping my recovery is uneventful and am now anticipating following up with the surgeon to schedule the procedure on my other eye. Has anyone experienced a situation similar to mine? Why would my problem not be recognized and diagnosed sooner? I have wondered if I simply was not able to describe my symptoms well enough or if ophthalmologists tend not to recognize or acknowledge how debilitating the condition can be. I understand that over time and with age the vitreous does degenerate for all people. Do only a few people experience what I did during that process or are there many people experiencing it’s deleterious effects on their vision and are just living with it, or as in my case, are not able to get a diagnosis from their eye care providers? I should add that I am in my early 70s and was extremely nearsighted my entire life. Anyone out there experience what I did?

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I have large cobweb floaters that are very debilitating. I am considering vitrectomy. I was wondering if anyone has had a floater only vitrectomy with good results

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@sakhter2013

I have large cobweb floaters that are very debilitating. I am considering vitrectomy. I was wondering if anyone has had a floater only vitrectomy with good results

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I had a vitrectomy with membrane peel. Although it was not done specifically for floaters, they were removed in the process. I'm about 3 months postop and floaters have not recurred.

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@sakhter2013

I have large cobweb floaters that are very debilitating. I am considering vitrectomy. I was wondering if anyone has had a floater only vitrectomy with good results

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Hi. I had a large floater appear that looked like a wasp was buzzing my face as I looked around. Opthalmologist recent showed no retinal tear. We monitored for a short time and it faded and shrank to a reasonable + tolerable size. I inquired about having this removed and my Opthalmologist felt strongly that this type of surgery is very high risk and he does not recommend it. This Dr specializes in glaucoma + other eye conditions + does considerable surgery in his practice. So his view was not bc he's not skilled or capable. He told me I'd learn to ignore it and I do now unconsciously ignore it.
Just another opinion to consider.
I'm glad I did not have the surgery.

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@sakhter2013

I have large cobweb floaters that are very debilitating. I am considering vitrectomy. I was wondering if anyone has had a floater only vitrectomy with good results

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I just had eye surgery for floaters and a blood vessel that burst with good results. Important to follow recovery instructions.

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I have frequent floaters from repairs on both retinas . My vision is currently blurry and decreased from taking Plaquenil

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@bobbyo

Hi Susan, Thanks for relating your experiences as I’ve gone through something similar. I’m almost 62 and nearsighted all my life. My floaters in both eyes are maddening and obstructive. Night driving has gotten to be “white knuckled”. I love watching hockey but have trouble finding the puck, or finding the RIGHT puck (eyes watch a floater rather than puck).

Anyway, have you had the vitrectomy or are you still considering it? I have been checking out Dr Jerry Sebag at online Presentations he did at Ophthalmology conferences on Youtube at SOE 2017 and 2019 and otherwise. He seems to be the quintessential expert on the vitreous and floaters. He has defined Vision Degrading Myodesopsia as an actual, clinically measurable DISEASE. He does Contrast Sensitivity and quantitative ultrasound testing (and other testing/questionnaires) to determine how significantly the floaters are affecting a person’s vision and, thereby, quality of life.

Dr Sebag’s practice is in California and I am in Pennsylvania. However, he was kind enough to recommend a retinal surgeon in my area. At this point, I’m STILL considering the surgery and I’m glad that I am, somewhat, more knowledgeable for my discussion with the surgeon.

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Which retinal surgeon did Dr. Sebag recommend to you? I'm in PA, too, and looking for a surgeon for a FOV. Thank you!

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@stewartspeech

Which retinal surgeon did Dr. Sebag recommend to you? I'm in PA, too, and looking for a surgeon for a FOV. Thank you!

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He recommended Dr. Thierry Verstraeten who is based in Pittsburgh and has an office in Washington, PA, where I live. Sebag and Verstraeten were colleagues awhile back. Dr Verstraeten did both of my FOVs and I’ve documented my results in this thread. Good luck! 🍀

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Does anyone have recent articles on vitrectomy for floaters in medical journals like Retina Today, etc? If so, can you please share?

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So glad your surgery helped you. Perseverance is the key to your wonderful outcome. God Bless.
I also have met macular along with the symptoms you describe. Might be time for me to find a new
Doctor also. Thank you for sharing

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Oh so nice to read positive results. Same as other poster, laser to left eye 2007 and laser to right eye, repeated 2008 re vitreous just done in his office, and have had floaters ever since. As one says above, small black one left eye like a little bird shape. Dull days the light clouy ones show up, bright days the dark ones and move around. Then narrow angle glaucoma diagnozed 2018 and 2020 Iridotomy both eyes... so I am thinking maybe have had enough surgery to eyes? Can't have done where I live, we only had one Ophthalmologist now 3 but year wait, so could go to bigger City... I too read it is a procedure that does not always work and approaching 80 perhaps should just contend with; vision is pretty good with glasses. * 2 months ago after some meds (antibiotic) now have 24/7 something hard to describe; its not virtual snow but is night and day eyes closed or open, and like maybe millions of tiny tiny moving "things" esp. when look at blank area and even this screen moving lines; sorry to detract but if anyone has any ideas? Optometrist says migraine but have had migraines since a child and they are now migraine without headache but "Aura" - one last Monday followed by some memory loss for hour then another on top of it, another aura: I feel like this veil everywhere I look is just another problem for life?
Again, very happy to hear of your successes, wish I had done years ago before all the other problems. Thankfully you had good surgeons too !

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