Vitreous Hemorrhage

When a vitreous hemorrhage develops, the patient usually experience significant floaters or diffuse blurring (blindness) in one eye. The hemorrhage will often clear on its own over several weeks, so immediate intervention is often unnecessary. However, there are often when the hemorrhage is slow to clear or new hemorrhages continue to occur. In these cases, vitrectomy surgery is often recommended. In this procedure, the vitreous gel is removed along with the blood that fills the vitreous cavity. At the time of surgery, laser is usually applied to treat the retinal neovascularization that is suspected to be the source of bleeding.