My ophthalmologist lost his mind and had to give up his medical license so when it happened to me I was referred to a retinologist. The main complication can be a detachment of the retina, although rare. Mine was okay and since I already knew what to expect I didn't go in for a checkup when the other eye did the same. It seems to be a common part of the aging process and the other eye will follow suit inside of a year.
I didn't even consider shooting since the huge floater was so annoying.
We typically performed dilated retinal evaluations on patients with a fresh PVD shortly after occurrence for evidence of Retinal Break, which is unusual but more common in high myopes who have eves with longer axial lengths and with retinas which have essentially stretched to maintain connection with the underlying vascular layer of the eye, called the choroid, which feeds the outer layers of the retina. The PVD patient should have another retinal exam 2-3 weeks later since a PVD can sometimes result in a retinal break which is not initially visible as the edges of the break continue to lie in apposition to each other.
The re-exam is done later to try and find any evidence of those edges separating as a result of the now liquefied vitreous shaking with motion of the patients head and eye movements. If those edges separate from that or from continued contration of vitreous strands still attached to the retina, there is a danger of the liquefied vitreous encroaching through the break and under the retina. That can result in detachment of the retina from the Choridal layer which results in death of the outer layers of the retina due to loss of blood flow.
If no break is found on that second retinal evaluation it is recommended that another examination be performed 3 months later.
