Big Business is Going To Try and Get You to Spend Big Bucks to Get Rid of Floaters.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

I received a brochure today from a company ( I won't list the name lest they sue me). They are selling ophthalmologists a whole set of "new revenue stream" from laser treatment of floaters. This includes TV ads, print ads, in office video, financing. It promises big profits. Moreover since most insurance companies are not going to pay for it the company is pushing "Cash and carry" without having to bill insurance companies or accept Medicare.  The medical research to support this unbridled promotion and hard sell is not there. But the company advertises more than half of all people have floaters and many consider them troublesome enough to spend big bucks for you (the surgeon) to try and get rid of them.  Remember risks of leaving floaters is zero. remember the cost of leaving floaters is zero. the costs of removing will run into thousands of dollars. The risks include retinal detachment, vitreous hemorrhage, cataract formation, glaucoma and the floaters could still be there.  This is a shameless hustle on the part of the company and doctors who promote this. BUYER BEWARE ESPECIALLY IF YOUR SURGEON SEEMS PUSHING THIS ON YOU.  

[MrPresley]

Thanks for the info Dr. Hagan.  I've never been a fan of any elective surgery myself, and I even go to the extreme of not ever having wanted LASIK as a means to eliminate the need for corrective lenses. Anything involving eye health is too important to me to seek out marketed treatments, especially ones like this that are totally outside the realm of any insurance-approved procedure.  

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

The published statistics are not that impressive improvement was like in the 60% but 12% of placebo (sham treatment) reported improvement.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

This study out today:    https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaophthalmology/fullarticle/2643488?utm_source=silverchair&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=article_alert&utm_term=mostread&utm_content=olf-widget_10112018    54 patients WITH HUGE WEISS RING TYPE FLOATERS NOT THE EVERYDAY SMALL TO MEDIUM SIZE FLOATERS THAT ARE BY FAR THE MOST COMMON:   Only 54% improvement vs 9% improvement in placebo (sham therapy).