INTRODUCTION

To evaluate and compare the efficacy and safety of YAG laser vitreolysis in treating symptomatic vitreous floaters of complete posterior vitreous detachment (PVD) and non-PVD.

METHODS

In this prospective cohort study, 51 eyes with symptomatic floaters were treated with YAG laser vitreolysis. Participants were divided into complete PVD and non-PVD groups. Objective visual quality measures including the Strehl ratio (SR), internal spherical aberration (SA), internal comatic aberration (CA), internal high-order aberration (HOA), area ratio of modulation transfer function (MTFa) and Vitreous Floaters Symptom Questionnaire (VFSQ-13) scores were used to compare the efficacy of YAG laser vitreolysis treatment between two groups.

RESULTS

The mean age of all patients was 56.80 ± 10.82 years old. In total, 36 of 51 (70.59%; 95% CI 58.10-83.10) patients reported their symptoms as significant or complete improvement after YAG laser vitreolysis treatment. Post-treatment MTFa, internal SA and internal HOA were significantly better compared to baseline (26.19 ± 14.73 vs. 29.19 ± 17.98, p = 0.013; 0.05 ± 0.05 vs. 0.04 ± 0.04, p = 0.031 and 0.23 ± 0.22 vs. 0.16 ± 0.07, p = 0.044; respectively) in all eyes. Twenty-nine of 51 (56.86%) eyes had floaters of non-PVD type. Significant or complete subjective improvements in the PVD group and non-PVD group were 72.73% and 68.97% (p = 0.344), respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Improved subjective and objective visual quality in participants with symptomatic floaters following YAG laser vitreolysis was found in both groups. The efficacy of YAG laser vitreolysis was comparable in floaters of complete PVD and non-PVD types.