Post by Frank on Feb 17, 2005 3:01:05 GMT -5
Well I went to the UZ hospital in Leuven (Belgium) yesterday. I had an appointment with Prof. Staelmans. I now believe vitrectomy is a relative safe way to remove floaters.
First of all ... finally I ended up with a docter, who knows a lot about floaters, and keeps constantly up to date with the new floater-things in the medical community.
They use the new instruments for over an half year with excellent results. They do 1500 vitr/year and the last "blindness"-case dated from 2002. The operation has a 98.5% success-rate.
So how does the "new" operation work here? They stick a plug in your eye of 0.4mm. Through that plug they use the 3 instruments (cutter, light and something that puts new fluid in the eye). The plug wouldn't become larger then 0.9mm if I understand correctly. Before they do the actual vitrectomy, they laser your retina in the non-vision zone. This way you have lesser chance of a retinal detachment while performing the vitrectomy. After the vitrectomy, they remove the plug and that's it. The hole will close out of itself, without any stitching.
Recovery period. Almost none ... he had a secretary who had a FOV, and 2 days later, she was back at work. If you want to have a vitrectomy on 2 eyes, you will have to wait about 2 months before doing the second eye.
The riscs ... like any operations, there are riscs involved:
1.) Cataract chance
> 60 years -> 100% ... they replace the lens instant after the vitrectomy
2.) Retinal Detachment ... it's possible ... but they operate you again soon after the vitrectomy .. chance of blindness are nihil
3.) infection ... the most dangerous one. They keep you in observation for 2 days (the most critical ones). If an infection shows up, they can help asap.
In 2002 there was a person who went home directly after his vitrectomy. At home he complained about pain in his eyes. His "house-doctor" said just to take a couple of asperines. A couple of days later, the pain didn't go away and he went to the hospital but it was to late and got blind afterwards ...
Some of te questions I asked:
Q: Is it true you can see the restants of the original gel fluid in your eye after a vitrectomy?
A: Not with the new suturless operation ... because the new equipment is very precise. The old instruments were flexibele and very very hard to work with, not always you could remove everything. Also ALL the gel will be removed and replaced with a new fluid (which your eye will replace through your own fluid in a matter of time)
Q: Can you have a bubble in your eye after the operation?
A: No ... sometimes they put a gas bubble in the eye if you have a retinal detachment to keep the retina in place for healing. The eye itself will replace the bubble with it's own fluid after time.
About the other floater treatments:
Laser disruption ... you can't remove the floaters, you can only cut them in pieces. Also a "shockwave" near the retina is very very dangerous.
Also injection of a proteine-solving enzyme would be very dangerous as it can harm your retina. Also there's nothing written about it in the medical community that it's a safe solution.
I'm feeling a lot better now that I know that I know there's a relative safe way to get rid of the floaters. I have to think it through tho. The thaught of entering your eye, your vision (what's the most important thing in life) keeps freaking me out. As the summer comes in, and the floaters will bother me more, I think I will do the operation ...
First of all ... finally I ended up with a docter, who knows a lot about floaters, and keeps constantly up to date with the new floater-things in the medical community.
They use the new instruments for over an half year with excellent results. They do 1500 vitr/year and the last "blindness"-case dated from 2002. The operation has a 98.5% success-rate.
So how does the "new" operation work here? They stick a plug in your eye of 0.4mm. Through that plug they use the 3 instruments (cutter, light and something that puts new fluid in the eye). The plug wouldn't become larger then 0.9mm if I understand correctly. Before they do the actual vitrectomy, they laser your retina in the non-vision zone. This way you have lesser chance of a retinal detachment while performing the vitrectomy. After the vitrectomy, they remove the plug and that's it. The hole will close out of itself, without any stitching.
Recovery period. Almost none ... he had a secretary who had a FOV, and 2 days later, she was back at work. If you want to have a vitrectomy on 2 eyes, you will have to wait about 2 months before doing the second eye.
The riscs ... like any operations, there are riscs involved:
1.) Cataract chance
> 60 years -> 100% ... they replace the lens instant after the vitrectomy
2.) Retinal Detachment ... it's possible ... but they operate you again soon after the vitrectomy .. chance of blindness are nihil
3.) infection ... the most dangerous one. They keep you in observation for 2 days (the most critical ones). If an infection shows up, they can help asap.
In 2002 there was a person who went home directly after his vitrectomy. At home he complained about pain in his eyes. His "house-doctor" said just to take a couple of asperines. A couple of days later, the pain didn't go away and he went to the hospital but it was to late and got blind afterwards ...
Some of te questions I asked:
Q: Is it true you can see the restants of the original gel fluid in your eye after a vitrectomy?
A: Not with the new suturless operation ... because the new equipment is very precise. The old instruments were flexibele and very very hard to work with, not always you could remove everything. Also ALL the gel will be removed and replaced with a new fluid (which your eye will replace through your own fluid in a matter of time)
Q: Can you have a bubble in your eye after the operation?
A: No ... sometimes they put a gas bubble in the eye if you have a retinal detachment to keep the retina in place for healing. The eye itself will replace the bubble with it's own fluid after time.
About the other floater treatments:
Laser disruption ... you can't remove the floaters, you can only cut them in pieces. Also a "shockwave" near the retina is very very dangerous.
Also injection of a proteine-solving enzyme would be very dangerous as it can harm your retina. Also there's nothing written about it in the medical community that it's a safe solution.
I'm feeling a lot better now that I know that I know there's a relative safe way to get rid of the floaters. I have to think it through tho. The thaught of entering your eye, your vision (what's the most important thing in life) keeps freaking me out. As the summer comes in, and the floaters will bother me more, I think I will do the operation ...