To answer this question, here are some messages I've found on a discussion board from www.surgicaleyes.com .
These are messages from people who have had Lasik surgery (It's a laser procedure done on the cornea to treat myopia) :
"If they are permanent,
hopefully manageable. I was talking to an older woman in her 70's,
quite healthy, but with a number of floaters. Her theory is that they
do settle down and float to the bottom of the eye. Maybe as the
vitreous liquefies, they do this. Dr's comments are welcome. Has
anybody had any luck with vitamins, supplements, herbs that either
help or hinder the effects of floaters?
Thanks
Gerard"
"I have had floaters for some
time, long before lasik. But the day of the surgery, perhaps a couple
hours post-op, I noticed some very large floaters. Bigger than I can
remember seeing before. They lasted less than one hour and subsided.
Since then I see pretty much what I was seeing before lasik.
My theory is that the suction device used to hold the eye steady for
the keratome delivers quite a bit of trauma to the eye and either
stirs up floaters that you already have, or perhaps creates some new
ones.
I don't see how the keratome or the laser could have anything to do
with aggravating or creating floaters.
Bob"
"for what it's worth, i saw
floaters before my rk (wearing eyeglasses).
immediately after rk, they DISAPPEARED (i could no longer see
them!)
gradually, over about 5 years, they reappeared.
now i see them mostly out of my left eye, where they were strongest
before surgery anyway.
today, i'm on vitamin C, D, E, and bilberry extract on a daily basis,
as well as good nutrition and excercise to see if i can "reduce" the
floater effect.
muddy mudskippe
"I had noticable floaters after both my lasik surgery and corneal transplant. They went away over time, or just became less noticeable to me, but it took a long time.
Barbara"
"A few more weeks have passed and it seems like a small miracle happened to me, my floaters are getting smaller or less appearent. A few seem to be gone from sight. I can only hope this trend continues for me. I will keep you posted. Thanks to all for your support.
graymaxi"
"Yes, floaters are common, and
apparently fairly common in younger myopes too.
One funny thing, I remember having mild floaters before RK, at about
17 to 19 years old.
Immediately after RK, all the floaters seemed to have "vanished".
Now, years after RK, they are coming back as bad or worse than before
my surgery.
I think this is natural and due to the elongated shape of my eye
anyway, but can only suspect whether things like allergies and
pilocarpine can exacerbate the condition.
muddy mudskipper"