Why do some people get Weiss Rings and other don't

[patsy3]

1.  Will everyone eventually experience a PVD?
2.  Do highly myopic eyes have more viterous in them then an eye with less myopia?
3.  After a PVD why do some people get Weiss Rings and others do not?
4.  Is it possible to have a complete PVD and have the viterous still attached at the optic nerve?  
5.  If the answer to # 4 is yes is that why some people never get a Weiss Ring Floater?
6.  Why does the introduction of a second Weiss Ring bring the other one that you got used to back into
     focus again.  It's like seeing them in stereo now.  

The reason I ask these questions is because I know a lot of people that have floaters but none of them
have Weiss Rings.  I wonder why I got one in each eye after a PVD and they got none.

I realize just from reading this board there are far more serious eye conditions then having a dancing Weiss Ring in each eye but the twins drive you nuts.  Sure wish Jules Stein would work on an injectable solution to disolve them and other floaters without damaging any other part of the eye.

[patsy3]

Thank you for your reply.  I alway enjoy reading your comments.  I wish your theory  the more myopic the greater chance of getting these beautiful Weiss Rings were constant but there always seem to be the exception to the rule.   My best friend is myopic -13 &
-15.  No Weiss Rings in either eye.   She began wearing hard contact lenses when they first hit the market.  Believe it or not HER MOTHER insisted the doctor fit her with them because she didn't want her daughter wearing glasses.  Mom had a real thing about how her daughter appeared in public.  I wonder if wearing those hard contact lenses which she continued to wear most of her life slowed the progression of the myopia she might have had or actually helped change the shape of her eye.  She recently had cateract surgery and developed additional floaters following those surgeries.  Because of her high myopia her doctor performed the surgeries 2 weeks apart because he knew the inbalance between eyes would really drive her nuts.   She is doing great.  Through the years she actually switch to mono vision using one eye for distance and the other for close up.  Her new implants were fitted that way.

About 9 years ago a Dr.at Jules Stein had received a research grant that he planned to use to possibly find a way to dissolve floaters.  Unfortunately he suddenly changed his focus.  Perhaps because of political pressure to spend the money in "more important" areas.

Contrary to what one poster indicated because my retinas are thin and stretch as far as they can go I believe I'm at greater risk for retina tears and detachment then someone with a perfectly shaped eye who also has sustained complete PVD's.   Thats why having laser surgery to blast away a Weiss Ring to me hold great risk as does vitrectomy.  Could my retinas withstand either treatment and stay in place.  Additionally the vitrectomy would also mean cataract surgery because if its not done at the time of FOV it will surely follow closely on its heels.  

The eyes are still such a medical mystery even though great strides have been made in providing some treatment for various conditions.  

I recently read an article saying that research was being done to eliminate myopic vision invitro.  Can you imagine being able to eliminate this condition before birth.
It fill my mind with excitment at the thought of possibly being able to do this for children born in the future.  God bless the medical researchers in this world.  

[BUTTERCUP109]

I'm glad to see that someone else is as curious as I am about these things. I tend to imagine that you are right in your theory that the presence of the Weiss ring at least indicates a complete separation of the vitreous from the posterior retina since it represents the collagen fibers that attach to the optic nerve head. So perhaps, people who do not have the Weiss ring after a PVD, have more of a partial collapsing of the vitreous membrane. I also think there are some physics involved in this. First, the vitreous is full of compartments of fluid surrounded by odd arrangements of collagen "walls" something like the membranes of an orange.  Google "Dr. Jan Worst" and see if you can find some his famous photos of the vitreous with dye injected that show how it is arranged. The more spherical the eye is the more equal are the forces all around that tug and pull on the retina. Longer eyes tend to have gotten longer over time, that is nearsighted people often have to get stronger and stronger prescriptions during childhood as the eye grows in length. This stretches out the back of the eye and makes the vitreous attachment weak in the back as well as possibly thinning the retina itself. So, perhaps myopia is a factor in determining who gets the Weiss ring and who does not. I'm about a -8 diopter myope and got the Weiss ring after PVD's in both eyes. We have talked before about vitrectomy and laser floater removal.
Hope things get better for you.

[patsy3]

Thanks for your reply.  

[AntonReiser]

In the book about "Age related changes in the human eye" weiss rings aren't mentioned at all.
Well I found something in Google Books:
http://books.google.com/books?id=Bvyxm-wimtIC&pg=PA179
http://books.google.com/books?id=Bvyxm-wimtIC&pg=PA180
and
http://books.google.com/books?id=tPCC2OY7n54C&pg=PA84

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

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[patsy3]

I think you might have misunderstood what you read regarding the relationship between having a Weiss ring and the unlikelyness of getting a retinal tear or detachment anytime in the future.  Perhaps one of the doctors here could clairify this.  

Hey I'm working on ignoring the rings.  I don't go looking for them they just swing in and out of my vision.

[walkietalkie]

Look on the bright side. I read somewhere here before, once you've got weiss ring, you are unlikely to get retinal tears or detachment.

[AntonReiser]

1. 75 % of persons over 65 years have PVD and it's increasing with age.
2. People that have axial myopia have a longer (bigger) eye, so there is more jelly.
3.4.5 The vitreous is not completely understood. But I just bought the book "Age related changes in the human eye", so I will read the chapter and can tell you more tomorrow.
6. What is seen by both eyes is always accepted by the brain. So you need to get your brain to ignore these stereo floaters. Try the best!