Lexicon of Floaters | Floater Stories

Words frequently used by patients judged to have Degenerative Vitreous Syndrome warranting treatment by Vitreous Opacity Vitrectomy.

PRE-OP

Ability
Annoyance
Anxious, anxiety
Blink, blinking
Blob
Blur, blurry, blurred
Cataract
Central
Clarity
Clear, clearly
Cloudy
Cobwebs
Color
Concentration
Debris
Decline
Definition
Depressed
Depressing
Detail, details
Difficult, difficulty
Diffuse
Disability
Disappear
Discomfort
Disconcerting
Discouraged, discouraging
Disorienting
Disrupts, disrupting
Driving
Exhausted, exhausting
Face, faces
Fall
Fatigue
Film

Focus
Fog
Foggy
Frightened
Frustrated
Fuzzy
Glare
Gray
Halo, haloed
Haze
Headache
Help
Hinderance
Housework
Impact, impacts
Impaired, impairment
Improvement
Intrusive
Irritable
Laborious
Milky
Mistakes
Mood
Move
Negative
Nervous
Nighttime
Normal
Nuisance
Obstructs
Obtrusive
Perceive
Read/reading
Recognize
Repetitive
Risk
Safely

Scan
Sedentary
See
Settle
Shadow, shadowed, shadowy
Sharpness
Sight
Sleep
Speed
Squint
Stairs
Step
Strain
Stressed, stressful
Struggle
Stumble
Suffer
Tired, tiring
Tolerate
Tragic
Transient
Treatment
Trip
Unable
Unreadable
Wait
Worrisome

POST-OP

Wonderful
Relief
Joy
Marvelous
Excellent
Delighted

Phrases frequently used by patients judged to have Degenerative Vitreous Syndrome warranting treatment by Vitreous Opacity Vitrectomy.

PRE-OP

Delayed reaction.
Roll my eyes.
Embarrassing pause.
Wait ‘til the fog clears.
Functional acuity.
Bright lights.
Cloudy material.
Difficulty reading.
Road sign.
24/7 unless asleep.
Milky film.
False object.
Hazy cloud.
Rub my eyes.
Gain visual clarity.
Depth perception.
Not seeing the whole picture.
Sedentary lifestyle.
100% of working hours.
Blocked vision.
Blurred vision.
Line of sight.
Street signs.
Hard to drive.
Blink my eyes.

Driving at night.
Greasy smear.
Extreme annoyance.
Haze-like.
Clear my vision.
Look away.
Always vigilant.
Strain to make out.
Cloudy vision.
Nothing can be done.
Just ignore them.
They’ll go away.
Seeing detail.
Look past, look around.
Too risky.
Extremely confusing.
Deplete the vibrancy of colors.
Gray out.
Scared me to death.
Enjoyable activities.
Good vision.
Foggy night.
Out of a fog.
Nothing is wrong.
Hold the blink.
Lasts until I blink.
Seconds of clear vision.

POST-OP

Crystal clear.
Vivid colors.
Absolutely crystal clear.
Totally cured.
Clear vision.
Wept with joy.

All patients were treated at Retina Specialists of Alabama in Birmingham, Alabama, USA. RSA is pleased to assist the Helen Keller Foundation for Research and Education in providing this informational website.

Vitreoretinal surgeons treating Degenerative Vitreous Syndrome (DVS or extensive floaters) at RSA include:

Drs. Robert Morris, Mathew Sapp, Matthew Oltmanns, and Matthew West.