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Post by Jim A on Jul 18, 2006 10:57:26 GMT -5
Hello, I've been suffering from an abundance of floaters (more than I can count) for the past 3 years. My opthamologist (who also claims to have them), says there is nothing which can be done about them.
What I find to be even more disturbing than the abundance of floaters I already have is that I keep getting MORE floaters, with distressing regularity.
When I saw my opthamologist last week I asked him if there was (at least) anything which would prevent the formation of new floaters, and he said "no".
I find this difficult to believe. We know that calcium strengthens bones, surely someone knows the chemical composition of the eye (specifically the vitreous) -- and wouldn't an increase in that chemical/vitamin/mineral/etc. not naturally strengthen the vitreous so that new floaters do not form?
Is anyone aware of a study into this possibility? Does anyone here know the chemical composition of the eye (specifically the vitreous)? I mean, this makes sense to me. Or am I way off base on this one?
Thank you.
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Post by Creator as guest on Jul 19, 2006 14:23:18 GMT -5
Dear Jim A,
it's funny you mention that, I had the very same idea two days ago and I posted it on the other more popular floaterTalk board. I don't think I have a response yet.
To me it seems very logical that it is possible to make the vitreous go back to gel form. Imagine if you have not too black floaters and you were able to stuck them back in the gel. The floaters would still be there but they will not move at all and this would result in a high percentage of satisfaction for floater sufferers I am sure as the worse about floaters is the MOVEMENT of them (especially if you don't have BLACK floaters).
I don't know why this has not been found yet. I know it sounds easy to say as I am no eye specialist, but the eye strikes me as a rather "simple" organ to understand compared to the brain for example. We know exactly what each parts of the eye does and there isn't much parts (cornea, iris, crystalline lens, vitreous and retina). So why can't they have already found something to put back the vitreous to gel form, might it be an injection directly into the eye or some form of light treatment or some pills (unlikely).
The only reason I can think of is that such research is not really being done right now. Maybe there is a hope in cataracts research as it's more and more a fact that vitreous liquefaction is directly related to cataracts, so maybe the researchers will or is currently working on a way to keep the vitreous in gel form for most of a person's life so that they do not develop cataracts until they are 85 years old or something. At the same time, this process would prevent floaters from ever appearing in those persons. For the people who already has floaters, it would block them in place, quite possibly improving the situation for them.
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Post by Creator as guest on Jul 19, 2006 14:43:38 GMT -5
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Post by Jim on Jul 19, 2006 16:27:20 GMT -5
Thanks for the responses. I imagine that "floaters" aren't important enough for researchers to spend the time and money looking into cures (or prevention). Obviously, those researchers don't have them, or they would understand how life-changing they can be.
It's a shame, because as you've said, I imagine a cure (or at least prevention) for floaters probably isn't that difficult compared to other things.
Jim
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Post by Creator as guest on Jul 20, 2006 8:44:10 GMT -5
Yes indeed. Although, according to the thread I linked, it's a "delicate balance" to maintain for the vitreous to remain in gel form. I wonder why the human body needed to make thing so complicated as to required such a delicate balance. That's probably why a lot of people have partly liquefied vitreous
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