Vitreous substitutes are used as intraoperative and postoperative tool for surgical treatment of
vitreoretinal disease. They are used as temporary fillers, permanent fillers or used as surgical tool
during short intraocular surgery.
According to the data published by National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) in
January 2014, retinal detachment is the most common vision-threatening retinal condition, with an
incidence of 1 in 10,000 individual annually, which corresponds to around 8,000 new cases in
Germany annually. Moreover, according to the study findings by Journal of Ophthalmology in
2016, the prevalence of retinal detachment ranges from 6.3 to 17.9 per 100,000 people annually.
Increasing incidences of retinal detachment, ophthalmic conditions, and retinal disease are expected
to drive the growth of vitreous tamponades market in near future. However, complications
associated with the conventional vitreous substitutes hamper the vitreous tamponades market
growth. The intraocular gases have high risk of elevating intracellular pressure on the surrounding
retinal membrane. The widely used silicone oil shows short life cycle and needs to be removed
early, due to the complications such as emulsification, band keratopathy, and secondary glaucoma.
Heavy silicone oil leads to significant intraocular inflammatory reactions and may cause severe
complications than conventional silicone oil. Although polymer appears to be more biocompatible,
they biodegrade quickly. Hence, long term biocompatibility of existing vitreous substitute material
and need to develop more suitable materials is expected to replace the existing vitreous humor, in
turn boosting the growth of vitreous tamponades market.
Vitreous tamponades market taxonomy:
By type:
Gaseous tamponades
•Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) gas tamponade
•Perfluoropropane (C3F8) gas tamponade
Liquid tamponades
•Silicone oil liquid tamponade
•Perfluorocarbon liquid tamponade
•Balanced salt solution
Quick filling hydrogel is expected to replace conventional vitreous tamponades in near future
According to the recent finding by the University of Tokyo in March 2017, new hydrogel-elastic gel
was introduced in the vitreous tamponades market. The new hydrogel is administrated in liquid
form behind the retina, which then turns into jellylike substance in just 10 minutes. The
conventionally available vitreous substitute such as silicone oil and gas do not mix well with water,
hence they are not suitable for long term application and require long period for gels formation,
thereby making them impractical to use during the surgery. The hydrogels have high water content
and composed of similar materials those found in soft tissue of eye. Conventional hydrogels absorb
water and swell resulting into pressure on the surrounding retinal tissues, which eventually cause