I recently received laser treatment in one eye and wanted to share my experiences. I am keeping the details about the doctor intentionally vague so that this doesn't seem like an endorsement or criticism of any individual.
First, a bit of background about myself: I'm in my early 30s and have had moderate floaters in the treated eye since my mid-20s. Things got significantly worse early this year when that eye had a posterior vitreous detachment, leaving me with a massive dense floater that would literally produce a blind spot when it moved across my central vision. The laser doctor who treated me said that this floater resembled a typical Weiss ring, although mine was quite a bit larger.
The treatments themselves were fairly straightforward: the eye was dilated, numbing drops were applied, and I sat in front of the laser for about 20-30 minutes per session. The procedure was not exactly comfortable -- I could feel pressure against my eyeball from the contact lens, and there was of course a bright light being shined into the eye. But there was zero pain, and overall everything was quite bearable. Recovery after each session was also very fast -- I didn't notice any side effects aside from the dilation which took several hours to fully wear off.
Results? Well, the laser definitely worked in the sense that it reduced the amount of floater material that I have. I'd say there's a solid 70-80% less junk in my eye than before. BUT, a lot of that leftover material is small debris which is more spread out and moves more quickly than my original massive floater. Compared to pre-laser, I'd say there's a big improvement under dim lighting. In bright lighting I'm still undecided on how much laser helped. I might've just traded one annoyance for another. That being said, I am hoping that over time I'll be able to "tune out" at least some of the small debris. This just wasn't possible with the giant mass I had before.
Am I glad I had the procedure done? Yes and no. Laser is something I wanted to try before FOV, and I'm glad that I went through the experience. And I no longer have a big blind spot to deal with, which is nice. But my wallet is certainly hurting from the treatment, and I was hoping for a more drastic improvement. At this point I feel that FOV is still a possibility in my future.
I hope this gives you some food for thought if you are considering laser yourself. I will update this post if there are any changes in my condition.
First, a bit of background about myself: I'm in my early 30s and have had moderate floaters in the treated eye since my mid-20s. Things got significantly worse early this year when that eye had a posterior vitreous detachment, leaving me with a massive dense floater that would literally produce a blind spot when it moved across my central vision. The laser doctor who treated me said that this floater resembled a typical Weiss ring, although mine was quite a bit larger.
The treatments themselves were fairly straightforward: the eye was dilated, numbing drops were applied, and I sat in front of the laser for about 20-30 minutes per session. The procedure was not exactly comfortable -- I could feel pressure against my eyeball from the contact lens, and there was of course a bright light being shined into the eye. But there was zero pain, and overall everything was quite bearable. Recovery after each session was also very fast -- I didn't notice any side effects aside from the dilation which took several hours to fully wear off.
Results? Well, the laser definitely worked in the sense that it reduced the amount of floater material that I have. I'd say there's a solid 70-80% less junk in my eye than before. BUT, a lot of that leftover material is small debris which is more spread out and moves more quickly than my original massive floater. Compared to pre-laser, I'd say there's a big improvement under dim lighting. In bright lighting I'm still undecided on how much laser helped. I might've just traded one annoyance for another. That being said, I am hoping that over time I'll be able to "tune out" at least some of the small debris. This just wasn't possible with the giant mass I had before.
Am I glad I had the procedure done? Yes and no. Laser is something I wanted to try before FOV, and I'm glad that I went through the experience. And I no longer have a big blind spot to deal with, which is nice. But my wallet is certainly hurting from the treatment, and I was hoping for a more drastic improvement. At this point I feel that FOV is still a possibility in my future.
I hope this gives you some food for thought if you are considering laser yourself. I will update this post if there are any changes in my condition.

