Viewing Through the Asteroids

Optical Coherence Tomography in Asteroid Hyalosis

“…Asteroid hyalosis is a degenerative process resulting in small, white vitreous opacities consisting of calcium phosphate and complex, layered lipid deposits [1][2][3][4] . Previous studies suggest a prevalence of 0.83-1.96%, bilaterality of 10%, and association with male sex and age [1][2][3][4] .…”

“…Previous studies suggest a prevalence of 0.83-1.96%, bilaterality of 10%, and association with male sex and age [1][2][3][4] . The correlation between asteroid hyalosis and diabetes mellitus remains controversial 1,3,4 .…”

“…The correlation between asteroid hyalosis and diabetes mellitus remains controversial 1,3,4 . Asteroid bodies rarely impair visual acuity, but they can impede funduscopic visualization because of scattered reflection of incident light off the opacities [1][2][3][4] . Their presence can pose difficulty for ophthalmologists requiring unobstructed retinal visualization for diagnostic purposes.…”

“…Previous studies demonstrate that fluorescein angiography (FA) can reduce asteroid distortion and improve funduscopic visualization 2,3,5 . FA employs barrier filters which can screen out reflected asteroid blue light scatter.…”

“…FA employs barrier filters which can screen out reflected asteroid blue light scatter. However, FA suffers from a few limitations 2 . First, FA has limited ability to detect subtle anatomic macular abnormalities.…”