Investigating Symptomatic Vitreous Opacities: An Online Survey and Field of View Reconstruction

Abstract

Background Symptomatic vitreous opacities (SVO) are a condition that can significantly affect patientsʼ quality of life. This online survey aims to contribute to the scientific understanding of symptomatic vitreous opacities, by investigating the subjective burden and individual perception of floaters, using a novel tool for field of view reconstruction. In addition, correlations with demographic data and refractive status will be analysed to identify patterns and potential influencing factors.

Methods We introduce a VO-related online survey covering patient education, experience with floaters and treatment, refraction error and eye diseases, quality of life, and a new sketching tool to simulate the individual field of view with VO. The data were collected between August 2022 and November 2023 and are analysed for correlations; participantsʼ answers are compared to the sketching tool results. We used linear regression with gradient descent to test whether a subjective suffering index from the questionnaire can be matched with an objective suffering index from the new sketching tool.

Results A total of 1502 people participated in the survey, of whom, 1384 reconstructed their field of view by positioning a total of 10,571 VO. There was no robust correlation between the sketched floaters and the subjective degree of suffering. Translucent VO types are more frequent in younger attendees. The dataset shows a higher prevalence of myopic participants and a lower prevalence of hyperopes with VO compared to global data.

Conclusion We were able to collect the largest dataset to date quantifying individual experience with floaters. As evidenced by the large number of participants with SVO and individual remarks on their psychological burden, greater effort is needed to improve the care for floater patients.

Zusammenfassung

Hintergrund Symptomatische Glaskörpertrübungen können die Lebensqualität der Betroffenen erheblich beeinträchtigen. Diese Online-Umfrage soll zum wissenschaftlichen Verständnis symptomatischer Glaskörpertrübungen beitragen, indem die subjektive Belastung und die individuelle Wahrnehmung von Floatern mithilfe eines neuartigen Tools zur Rekonstruktion des Gesichtsfeldes ermittelt werden. Darüber hinaus werden Korrelationen zu demografischen Daten und dem Refraktionsstatus analysiert, um potenzielle Einflussfaktoren zu identifizieren.

Methoden Die hier präsentierte Online-Umfrage zum Thema Glaskörpertrübung umfasst Zusammenhänge zu Patientenaufklärung, Erfahrungen mit Floatern und Behandlung, Refraktionsfehlern und Augenerkrankungen, Lebensqualität und einem neuen Skizzierwerkzeug zur Simulation des individuellen Gesichtsfeldes mit VO. Die zwischen August 2022 und November 2023 gesammelten Daten wurden auf Korrelationen untersucht und die Antworten der Teilnehmer mit den Ergebnissen des Skizzierwerkzeug verglichen. Wir haben eine lineare Regression mit Gradientenabstieg verwendet, um zu prüfen, ob ein subjektiver Leidensindex aus dem Fragebogen mit einem objektiven Leidensindex aus dem neuen Skizzierwerkzeug übereinstimmen kann.

Ergebnisse Insgesamt nahmen 1502 Personen an der Umfrage teil, von denen 1384 ihr Sichtfeld durch Positionierung von insgesamt 10 571 Floater rekonstruierten. Es gab keine robuste Korrelation zwischen den skizzierten Floatern und dem subjektiven Leidensdruck. Transluzente Trübungen treten häufiger bei jüngeren Teilnehmern auf. Der Datensatz zeigt eine höhere Prävalenz von myopen und eine geringere Prävalenz von hyperopen Teilnehmern mit Floatern im Vergleich zu globalen Daten.

Schlussfolgerung Wir konnten den bisher größten uns bekannten Datensatz zur Quantifizierung individueller Erfahrungen mit Glaskörpertrübungen erheben. Wie die große Zahl der Teilnehmer mit symptomatischen Glaskörpertrübungen und die individuellen Aussagen zur psychischen Belastung zeigen, sind weitere Anstrengungen notwendig, um die Versorgung von Floater-Patienten zu verbessern.

Conclusion Box

Already known:

• The morphologies of vitreous floaters are rarely differentiated in the literature.

• Individual assessment of severity remains a difficult task.

• The correlation between myopia and vitreous opacities is widely recognized, but it has not been compared against global data on refractive status.

Newly described:

• This work proposes a new method to measure individual suffering using the reconstruction of the personal visual field with floaters.

• Floater morphology appears to be age dependent. Future and current floater type dependent treatments are therefore targeting a different generation of patients.

• Compared to global public data, our dataset of participants affected by floaters shows a higher prevalence of myopia and a lower prevalence of hyperopia. As myopia increases in the global population, the number of people with symptomatic vitreous opacities is also likely to increase.

Keywords

vitreous opacities - vitreous floaters - survey - myopia - field of view - quality of life

Schlüsselwörter

Glaskörper - Glaskörpertrübung - Floater - Kurzsichtigkeit - Umfrage - Sichtfeld

Publication History

Received: 21 May 2025

Accepted: 03 July 2025

Accepted Manuscript online:
05 August 2025

Article published online:
15 October 2025

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