Dear patient!

Ever since opening my office in 1995 I hear the same complaints several times a day. Patients repeatedly explain how they feel like seeing streaks, shades, or flies before their eyes. After a thorough investigation of the vitreous humor and the retina excluded retina defects and other eye diseases the patients always get the same information. All you have are floaters (also called muscae volitantes or mouches volantes). 'This is nothing serious, you needn't worry!'

Very often they ask a reasonable question: 'What can I do against this?' The ophthalmologists' answer is always the same: 'The opacities are only minor. You will get used to it by and by, and by the way – removing the floaters surgically by vitrectomy is much too risky.'

In fact, many patients have serious discomforts in everyday life. Floaters can be very annoying when working on a screen or while in traffic. I experienced many frustrated patients in all the years as a practitioner. Especially in ophthalmology, where we are used to finding quick and perfect solutions for most disorders, there used to be an significant gap in the range of therapies.

I have long been searching for the perfect solution. In 2012 the Ellex corporation released the YAG Laser Ultra Q Reflex. I have been using YAG lasers for 20 years in many thousands of surgeries at the anterior area of the eye or the vitreous humor. Now the YAG laser can be used very precisely in the posterior area of the vitreous humor. This is a real technical improvement and leads to the desired simple solution for many patients affected.

On this web site I am trying to answer all your questions related to diagnosis and laser treatment of floaters.

Sincerely yours,

Dr. med. Karl Brasse MRCOphth

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