Vitreous eye “floaters” are the moving dots and strands that we see in our vision, located inside the vitreous humour, the gel inside the eye. They have been categorised as collagen protein type 2. They cast shadows on the retina and it is these shadows that the sufferer sees. For some people, they are noticeable all the time, even in dim light conditions. And there is no respite at night, because they are visible as “blobs” passing across car headlights, streetlights, or the TV.

The syndrome of severe floaters is called “Degenerative Vitreous Syndrome (DVS)”. Millions of people across the world suffer from floaters. Their eyesight, and therefore their lives, are negatively affected. Unfortunately, to date, the medical community have not considered floaters a significant clinical problem and have not contemplated finding a safe and reliable cure for the condition.

There is a general understanding in the medical and ophthalmological community that eye floaters are benign, therefore hardly any research has been conducted into treating floaters. Most doctors consider floaters a normal ageing aspect and it has not been yet recognized as a condition/disease, causing serious suffering for people with severe and numerous eye floaters, including very young persons. Floaters can happen to anyone at any time.

Why the general population will have an increase in eye floaters?

 

• Ageing: Eye floaters are caused by aging in the eyes. The UN predicts the rate of population ageing in the 21st century will exceed that of the previous century. For the reason that life expectancy is rising, the number of people aged 60 years and above have tripled from its number in 1950 to 600 million in 2000, in 2006 it has surpassed to 700 million, and is projected that the population will reach around the 2 billion by 2050. The proportion 65 years and older, which was 8% in 1950, has increased to 16% today and will most likely increase to a record 26% by 2050 (over 0.5 billion).
  
  
• Nearsightedness: Being nearsighted (myopic) is another cause for eye floaters occurring earlier in life. This is due to the increased length of the eye. Most people that are nearsighted will experience eye floaters. Half the world’s population will be short-sighted by 2050 (nearly 5 billion). The rapid increase in the prevalence of myopia globally is attributed to, environmental factors (nurture), principally lifestyle changes resulting from a combination of decreased time outdoors and increased near work activities, among other factors.
• Diabetes: Having diabetes is a lifelong condition that causes a person’s blood sugar level to become too high. Eye floaters are common in people who have diabetes. The number of people with diabetes has risen from 108 million in 1980 to 422 million in 2014.  And the trend will continue to increase worldwide. One in 3 Americans will have diabetes by 2050.
• LASIK laser surgery: Eye floaters can appear after LASIK surgery. This type of surgery is used to correct refractive error such as nearsightedness (myopia), farsightedness (hyperopia), astigmatism or presbyopia. More people are undergoing LASIK surgery in order to get rid of glasses / contact lenses. This trend has been very popular since many years and it continues being stable.
  
• Others: There are many other factors that might cause floaters such as eye trauma, drugs use, cancer, uveitis, cataract surgery, etc. Even unknown factors that are not yet truly recognized can cause eye floaters.
  
  

 Conclusions
There is a general understanding in the medical and ophthalmological community that eye floaters are benign, therefore hardly any research has been conducted into treating floaters.

The first 3 mentioned factors (ageing, nearsightedness and diabetes) are the mayor causes of eye floaters.

There are many other factors that causes eye floaters. Some of them are unknown.

Eye floaters will impact an enormous number of the current and future population.

A safe and effective cure will alleviate a very large group of suffering people.

Investing in a safe and effective eye floaters cure will give very big financial gains on short, mid and long term period.

 

 

Currently, DVS sufferers have limited treatment options for this bothersome condition: eye drops, yttrium-aluminium-garnet (YAG) laser, or vitrectomy.  The effectiveness of eye drops has never been scientifically proven.  Conflicting results and risks have been reported with the YAG laser and furthermore, vitreous opacities close to the lens or the retina cannot be treated at all by the YAG laser.  Although floaters can be cured by vitrectomy, this procedure is highly invasive and has serious risks to eyesight during or after surgery, such as retinal tears, retinal detachments, cataracts, glaucoma, hypotony, wavy vision, infection and a long list of other side effects.

 

Patients who choose to take YAG laser or vitrectomy treatments liken them to a gamble.  Why do they take this huge risk?  Because they are desperate to be free of the misery of floaters!

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