Floaters and fuzziness

       I have had a recent spree of symptoms.  It all started about seven months ago when I noticed I had a particularly large amount of floaters in both of my eyes.  I could not tell you how many I actually have, not only do they move independently of each other, and in a way that prevents me from seeing them all at the same time.  Since then I have had a steady increase in the number of floaters that I have in my vision.  I went to a retinologist in July who told me that i have lattice degeneration.  Since I had never been to an opthalmologist before, I went to one and he referred me to the retinologist that I saw.  
          When I saw the retinologist I told him that i had a large number of floaters in my eyes; he even asked me if it was in both eyes, to which I replied "yes."  The other day I called him because lately, flat or plain surfaces have been looking as though I am seeing them through a television set with a small amount of static.  He said that I am probably just paying more attention to my vision than I was before; but before he said that I had to remind him what patient I was.  One of the things he asked me was which eye I had lattice degeneration in.   I had presumed from his description that it was in both eyes.  After all, I was there to have the cause for a symptom appearing in both eyes examined.  I told him that I thought I had it in both eyes, this he was surprised by.  Should I go to a new retinal specialist?  Should I assume that my old specialist is competent?  Is the fuzziness a symptom of something other than lattice degeneration?  Does lattice degeneration usually only occur in one eye?  What else could be causing this problem?

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

I have lattice generation in both eyes and it has not caused problems for many years. Lattice itself does not increase the number of floaters nor cause "static" in the central vision.

There is no reason to doubt your retina surgeon's competency. A busy ophthalmologist may see 30-50 patients in a 9-10 hour day, 6 days a week and have 25,000 patient encounters in a year. If he did not have your chart in front of him don't blame him for not being able to recall the specifics of your case.

I will never discuss a patient's condition without the chart in front of me. I may have 6 Mary Smiths in my practice and a dozen william browns's.

I believe the fuzziness is something other than lattice. Lattice can occur in one or both eyes. I would return to your original general ophthalmologist.

JCH III MD