Once your doctor has confirmed that there is no underlying condition, you will be told that you can either undergo medical treatment or learn to live with them. Unfortunately, the only medical treatment for eye floaters is surgery.

There are two types of eye floaters surgery: vitrectomy and laser removal. Laser removal involves breaking up the floaters using laser, however, not everyone is eligible for this surgical procedure. To be eligible, the number of floaters must be small, and the distance between the floaters and the lens, as well as the distance between the floaters and the retina, has to be above a certain threshold. In addition, some types of floaters cannot be treated with this intervention, e.g. floaters that are very flexible or very large. Furthermore, laser removal is a fairly risky procedure and there is a significant chance that things go wrong.

The other type of surgery for eye floaters is vitrectomy. In this procedure, an apparatus is used to suck out the vitreous humor (the solution in the eye ball), and the particles and debris in it. Then, a synthetic saline solution is pumped into the eyeball to replace the vitreous humor. Although this operation effectively removes the floaters, it is associated with a number of potential dangers, including serious eye infections, cataracts and other complications.

In light of these issues with both types of eye floaters surgery, these procedures are rarely recommended and patients are often told to learn to live with their eye floaters. However, eye floaters do not simply go away and often will get worse with time. They can be particularly annoying for persons who work at jobs that require visual precision and persons who participate in sports that are heavily reliant on good visual acuity.


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