THE WAY PATIENTS SEE FLOATERS

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the use of dynamic widefield scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (SLO) and B-scan ultrasonography in imaging vitreous abnormalities in patients with complaints of floaters. Methods: Twenty-one patients underwent both dynamic SLO and B-scan ultrasonography to image their vitreous abnormalities. After reviewing these videos, patients graded each imaging technique on a scale of 1 to 10, based on how closely it represented their visual perception of floaters. Results: The mean age of the patients (12 women and nine men) was 47.7 ± 18.5 years. The patients graded a median score of nine for SLO imaging (mean = 8.43) compared with a median score of 5 (mean = 4.95) for ultrasound (P = 0.001). Widefield SLO imaging demonstrated three-dimensional interconnectivity within the condensations of the formed vitreous that exhibited translational and rotational movements with eye saccades. Conclusion: Floaters are a common complaint, but it is difficult to know whether imaging findings of the vitreous correlate to what patients perceive. Widefield SLO seems to image vitreous abnormalities related to how patients perceive their own floaters better than B-scan ultrasonography. Despite the term “floaters”, the vitreous abnormalities in the videos seemed to be manifestations of a complex three-dimensional degeneration of the vitreous framework.