Episode 4: Advances in floater treatment

After spending years encouraging and helping train colleagues to treat floaters, Christopher F. Wood, MD, is confident that the technologies available today will allow ophthalmologists to safely popularize the procedure and expand access to many more patients. You can read his blog about the discussion here.

Also available on iTunes.

Dr. Wood is a cataract and laser surgeon at Northwest Eye Physicians in Arlington Heights, IL.

Editor's note: L. Neal Freeman, MD, MBA, kindly provided the details pertaining to the insurance code(s) Dr. Wood mentions in this episode. Dr. Freeman reports that CPT 67031 is the code to use when vitreous strand severing occurs, and applies when a distinct strand is cut to allow the floater to drop downward out of the line of sight. However, this is not always what is attempted when treating floaters, he says. Sometimes there is no distinct strand, and the goal of treatment is more akin to "exploding" the floater by hitting the floater with the laser energy. The correct code is 67299, according to Dr. Freeman.