In most cases, floaters are part of the natural ageing process and are simply an annoyance. They can be distracting at first, but eventually tend to “settle” at the bottom of the eye, becoming less bothersome but they physically do not go away completely. More often then not you adapt to the floaters and see them less over time unless you look out specifically for them.
The treatment methods for floaters differ depending on the associated conditions diagnosed by your eye doctor. If they are found to be due to blood and a retinal tear is detected, the condition can be treated by laser retinopexy to seal the tear from developing into a retinal detachment.
If a retinal detachment has already developed, then surgery is required to reattach the retina. This also means that if a patient sees floaters and gets an eye check by an eye doctor earlier, treatment can be advocated early with good results and the retinal tear may not have developed into a detachment. Therefore, do not always assume that floaters will go away so do not ignore them.
Furthermore, when the floaters are found to be due to white blood cells, then more detailed assessments will be carried out to determine if they are due to infection or cancer. This is done taking a sample of the vitreous and sending it for cytology to find out the type of cells. After which further work-up is warranted to determine the source and extent of the problem.
The Eye Clinic has its own in-house treatment room so laser procedure can be done on the same day if needed.