What is Vitreous Disease?

The back of the eye is made up of the retina and vitreous. The retina is the light-sensitive layer of tissue that lines the back of the eye and sends visual messages through the optic nerve to the brain. The vitreous is the gel-like substance that allows the eye to maintain its shape while allowing light to enter the retina. The retina is susceptible to a variety of diseases, many of which can seriously affect your vision.

Conditions that affect the vitreous include:

Vitreous Degeneration: Vitreous degeneration is a natural process that occurs with aging in most people. The degeneration of the vitreous gel starts early in life, with a small percentage of the vitreous gel liquifying and shrinking by age 18. But the majority of the vitreous gel will then maintain the gel-like consistency until around the age of 50, when the degeneration process resumes. 

Posterior Vitreous Detachment: Inside the vitreous are millions of thin fibers that interlock and connect to the retina. During the aging process, the vitreous begins to shrink, causing the thin fibers to pull on the surface of the retina. When those fibers are pulled too tight, they break, allowing for the vitreous to detach from the retina.

Vitreous Hemorrhage: Vitreous hemorrhage is the leakage of blood into and also around areas that surrounds the vitreous humor of the eye. A number of conditions can cause blood leakage into the vitreous humor and can result in blurred vision due to the fluids that leak into the eyes blocking lights that passes into the eye.

Floaters: Eye floaters are spots in your vision. They might appear to you as black or gray specks, strings or cobwebs that wander about when you move your eyes and appear to dart away when you try to look at them directly.

To learn more about vitreous disease or other conditions in Phoenix, contact Associated Retina Consultants at 602-242-4928 or website.