Hello and welcome to the Zero to Finals podcast. My name is Tom and in this episode I'm going to be talking to you about posterior vitreous detachment. And if you want to follow along with written notes on this topic, you can follow along at zero definals.com slash posterior vitreous detachment or in the ophthalmology section of the

zero definals medicine book. So let's get straight into it. The vitreous body is the gel inside the

eye that maintains the structure of the eyeball and it keeps the retina pressed onto the

corroid. The vitreous body is made up of collagen and water,

and with age it becomes less firm and less able to maintain its shape. Posteria vitrious detachment

is a condition where the vitreous body comes away from the retina or separates from the retina,

and it's very common, particularly in older patients.

Let's talk about the presentation.

Posteravitrious detachment is a painless condition,

so the patient won't have any pain.

It may be completely asymptomatic and the patient may never know

that they have posterior vitrious detachment, or there may be spots of vision loss,

floaters in the vision, or flashing lights.

Let's talk about management. No treatment is necessary for posterior vitrious attachment

and over time the symptoms will improve as the brain adjust to the areas of vision that are affected.

Postero vitrious detachment can predispose patients to develop retinal tears and retinal detachment,

and these conditions can present in a very similar way.

So it's essential when patients have symptoms such as spots of vision

loss, floaters or flashes to exclude and assess the risk of a retinal tear or detachment

with a thorough assessment of the retina. And this is usually done by an optometrist or an

ophthalmologist. So thanks for listening to this episode on posterior vitrious detachment.

A big thanks to Harry Watchman for perfectly editing the podcast as always.

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