E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSYou’re staring at your blank computer screen when dots drift into your line of vision. They resemble specks of dust or perhaps clouds or cobwebs. Don’t panic -- you’re not seeing things. You’re witnessing eye floaters, not tricks of the eye or mind.
“Floaters are a part of the normal aging process,” says Dr. Pravin Dugel, managing partner at Retinal Consultants of Arizona in Phoenix.
Eye floaters are fibers that detach from the eye. A hollow cavity filled with a vitreous jelly, composed of 99 percent water and 1 percent collagen, lies in the center of the eye. This gel helps give eyes their round shape and aids in seeing. As we age, the vitreous liquefies and pieces of it begin to release from the back wall of the eye. The debris floats across the field of vision, causing people to see dots, flies, cobwebs, or clouds.
“You can think of [floaters] as UFOs floating in the eye,” explains Dr. Abdhish R. Bhavsar, director of clinical research at the Retina Center of Minnesota. He explains that unlike UFOs, physicians know what floaters are, but like UFOs they often appear differently based on who sees them.
While it seems that floaters glide across the front of the eye, they’re actually drifting through the eye. It’s the shadow of the fibers reflecting on the retina that people see.
Although eye floaters don’t occur in everyone, at least 60 percent of people experience them by age 65, says Dugel. Those who have had cataract surgery or have severe nearsightedness might experience eye floaters earlier in life. People who are nearsighted (or myopic) have longer eyeballs, and the vitreous gel stretches more in myopic eyes than in an eye with either normal vision or farsightedness.
Bhavsar notes that sometimes people experience vitreous detaching, but do not see floaters while others see a large number of floaters while the vitreous shedding is minimal.
Even though both doctors stress that eye floaters should not be cause for concern, they do recommend people go for eye exams if there is a sudden explosion in the number of floaters or flashing lights accompany the dots.
“In some people as that jelly peels off it’s like Velcro peeling off … it pulls on the retina and it causes a tear,” Dugel says.
If the retina tears, ophthalmologists can repair it, using lasers or cyrotherapy, which involves freezing, and can prevent the retina from detaching from the eye. If the retina does dislodge, doctors must perform surgery to repair it.
But for most people, floaters are simply an annoyance. In very rare cases, ophthalmologists perform surgery to remove the vitreous, but for majority of patients, the floaters settle to the bottom of the eye after time and cause no other problem.
“In the absence of all those other medical conditions, [floaters] are a nuisance and they can affect people in varying [degrees],” says Bhavsar.
Related:
- Pee shivers: You know you're curious
- Why do our eyes get heavy when we're sleepy?
- Why is cracking my knuckles so addictive?
Want more weird health news? Find The Body Odd on Facebook.
Leave a Comment:
Oh, thanks for the explanation. I see clearly what you are talking about now.
Little joke (ok, very little).
This happened to me a few years ago and the Doctor told me what it was. I was so freaked out because I had had perfect vision and the "floaters" came as a shock. Once it was explained I felt better about it. I still did not like the "we all are getting older" speech, but I am over that now as well.
Same here! And now no matter what the issue might be, it seems the doctor is always giving me the "as we get older..." speech.
Thank god, I thought I was going nuts.
Over a year ago, I started taking an eye health synergistic herbal combo. My pesky floaters soon went away 90%. I'm 65. The combo is eyebright, bilberry fruit, quercetin, rutin, carrot juice, lutein and multi-anthocyanidins powered extract from fruits. My husband also takes this combo and he has noticed an improvement.
I have had this sort of stuff going on since I was in my early teens and just thought it was normal. It can be pretty entertaining when I'm really bored, but was distracting when I was younger. It's not as prevalent now, however.
Same here. I've always had perfect vision. I don't see nearly as well as I did when I was a teen, but I still test at 20/20. I was wondering why they said this doesn't happen until later in life unless you have eye surgery or something like that. I always just assumed it was literally tiny particles like skin cells or something on my eye.
I've had them all of my life. They look like the illustrations of cells in my school books. There are more of them now, but they have been entertaining. (I suppose I am easily amused.)
Yep. Me too. A s far back as I can remember - even before I was eleven years old. I would be fascinated by them and it never occurred to me not everyone had them. Now that I'm seventy, I guess I get to enjoy them even more. :)
Count me in too, I've had many floaters since at least my teenage years and. My ophthalmologist says there's some thinning of my retina but nothing unusual for someone in his 60's.
Jake, you might just as well get used to it. Age happens (to most of us anyway), and sometimes it is not pretty.
It's better than the alternative :)
I have had floaters since 13. My mom took me to the ophthalmologist to find out what that "black spot" as I called it actually was. It was then I was diagnosed with floaters. I am 49 now and am so used to them that if I didn't have them I would think something was wrong. I also happen to be nearsighted and have been in glasses since 19.
after catarac surgery I saw floaters. Thought my eyes were falling apart, a stiffled a laugh, then the doc explained what was happening. Damn, this getting old has too many surprises at times. Yet, it's better than being a young kid on a dirt farm in Kansas. Life goes on.
Most of the floaters I have witnessed were in public toilets.
I have had floaters for years, and have gotten used to them. After mentioning to my eye doctor once and being told they aren't a serious problem, I have just coped with them. My daughter, who is in her 30s has them, but she is also extremely nearsighted.
Numerous floaters should be checked out by an ophthalmologist. One or two, no worries -- but if you see a bunch, go immediately to the eye doctor. I have had vitrectomies in both eyes and laser repair of my retinas all before the age of 35. If I had brushed it off, I would have been blind. Also, make sure your eye doctor is a true ophthalmologist -- optometrists and ER doctors are not particularly good at diagnosing this!
'Had floaters when in my teens, but now that I'm much older I don't have them anymore. My eyesight isn't as good as it once was so that might be the reason I don't see them. 'Don't miss 'em so I guess there's something good to be said about aging.
I've had floaters for the past 15 years or so. And when I sneeze hard they can shake up like a snow globe and get little halos around them, docs said it was nothing to worry about just the settled floaters being swished around by a rapid head movement and the increased pressure on the eyes during a sneeze. It's quite amusing now, sneezing and seeing "stars" I feel like a cartoon.
Morgellons...
I believe the floaters to be bacterial, in nature. I first had floaters in the mid sixties after receiving a known tick bite. Was taken to a doctor who dismissed them as normal--they often do not take children very seriously........Spirochetes have been found in the fluid of the eye, in lab analysis . My floaters LOOK like spirochetes! dots and squiggles.
I've had and have seen floaters for as long as I can recall. When I'm really bored, I'll play with them - a few quick nods or a little shake, and I've got my own little show to watch.
True, better than the alternative.
One solution is dark sunglasses (when you can wear them). When your pupil contracts, you go to a higher 'f -stop' in your eyes and the floaters are more in focus.
Not sure I've ever had a 'floater', but the stuff I see in my vision are ON the surface of my eye, not in it. I can tell because if i blink or move my eye up and down I can see the objects 'bounce' up again. I also think when you 'see stars' you are actually seeing red blood cells in small capillaries because they follow the same path. When i lay on my back and stare at the blue sky I can sometimes see blood cells following the same path too.
If they were ON the surface you could either feel them (dirt/dust) or wash them out with saline or Visine. 'Seeing stars' is the cells in the retina (like wallpaper on the inside back of your eyeball) firing off signals to your brain.
After I had retinal detachment, I could see the blood cells flowing thru paths at the center of my vision. I assume as the retina healed some capillaries grew on the surface of the rods and cones that detect light.
Seeing stars is often the "blue field entoptic phenomenon" believed to be caused by actually seeing white blood cells traveling through capillaries. They are slower and larger than the more numerous red blood cells, and appear as little sparkly squiggles that follow the same paths repeatedly. Can appear spontaneously after sneezing, or when blood pressure increases, if you bend over quickly, after you rub your eyes, etc.
I'm 49 yrs old, quite nearsighted, and limited vision out of my right eye. I began experiencing floaters in my left eye - my good eye - very recently and was starting to worry. I feel a little better knowing it's probably just part of the natural aging process but I'll still discuss it with my doctor.
This "natural aging process" stuff pretty much sucks, watching everything fall apart ...
I'm now 73 and had them as a school kid, they looked like the Chapter symbol used in legal books. But as most of the commenters have said they are near sighted or simply normal. I have always had tremendous eye sight especially long range. I can easily spot an ocean buoy at 5 to 6 miles.
When I got to 45 or so I started to have problems with my close vision, simple reading glasses corrected this. When I retired this was seemingly getting worse. But to my suprise as time has moved on, the close vicion has been getting better, I don't use reading glasses when using the computer or for all but the smallest print when reading.
Very curious isn't it? My eyes tear up very easily, but that is of small consequence.
I have had them since I was in middle school, but was not found to be nearsighted until I was in the 10th or 11th grade. For me, they look more like squiggles than dots.
I've had floaters since my teen years. It's kind of amusing to "chase" them across my field of vision, only to remind myself that the act of chasing them is what's causing them to move in the first place!
I just got a batch of floaters in my right eye very suddenly one morning about a year ago. Went to the ophthalmologist because it was accompanied by flashing lights and I was a bit worried. Fortunately, no detachment. However, I am REALLY bothered by the floaters which affect my vision quite a bit..i.e. they sometimes stay put and fog up my vision in that eye. Was told there is nothing that can be done. Something in me says that's not quite true...but that docs don't WANT to try to do anything because of the risk. Anyone have ideas?
Sheila--this article seems to downplay the importance of what is possibly going on. Showers of dense floaters, fireworks,lights can possibly be precursors of serious tears. If you start seeing wide threads that look like seaweed or thick threads, that is a tear that was caused as the vitreous pulled away from the retina. That seaweed or thick brownish squiggle is in fact blood bleeding from the retina an filling the eye. Get to the doctor or emergency room immediately as it can quickly develop into a detached retina wherein the eye goes completely dark. A detached retina is not to be taken as lightly as this article seems to, and the surgery to reattach it is not ALWAYS successful. The success of that operation, done without benefit of general anathesia is highly dependent upon how quickly the surgery is performed, the skill of the physician, and the recovery period during which you must keep your head turned downward at all times. It may detach again.
The "horseshoe tear" can be quite serious too. If you start seeing irridescent curved figures resembling slices of cantalope, quarter moons or horseshoes, get to the doc or ER NOW. These tears also lead to detached retinas. I wouldn't let a doctor minimize the importance of these tears. Detached retinas can lead to blindness in one or both eyes. Unfortunately when you lose vision in one eye, the other eye is often also at risk. A retina specialist is much more highly skilled and aditionally trained than a general opthamalogist. No need to say, don't even consider a routine exam from an optician as sufficient. Get yourself to a retinal surgeon or specialist, by hook or by crook or what HMOs call a referral, as only a retinal surgeon has the equipment necessary to see into and exam the back of the eye where the retina is. It's a totally different exam than for the cornea.
I hope it doesn't happen to you, but it did to me. And it ain't pretty. While eye problems are not considered urgent, emergencies or life-threatening. They sure as hell can destroy your lifestyle an quality of life. Don't let anyone tell you differently, incluing a general opthamalogist.
I agree with all of this, as it is exactly what happened to me last fall. The only thing I disagree with is going to the ER, as an ER physician has neither the expertise or the equipment to diagnose either a detaching vitreous, or a torn/detaching retina. You would need to see an eye specialist, preferably a retina specialist asap, and the ER will only give you a referral. Retinal repair is not a piece of cake, and the results are never 100%. Healing time is typically 6 months - can be as long as a year. The repaired eye will never be the same, and you will be left with wavy (like underwater) vision and possible double vision. And yes, retinal repair will change your life for sure. I used to make a fairly decent living making bead jewelry, and so far, there are no corrective lenses that will allow me to see my beads - or anything close up. The repaired eye stays closed most of the time, as what it sees is totally unrelated to what the other eye sees.
I'm near-sighted too and got floaters while outside one day. Just all of a sudden they appeared and I thought I had a bug in my eye! This was my left eye. Now they are gone from that eye, but I immediately got them in my right eye! Wierd.
NO one has mentioned LASIK as a surgery that can cause vitreous detachment and therefore real floaters. (I think many of you are not yet experiencing the big floaters that those of us with vitreous detachment experience. I had the little threads for years, but now that I have the real thing, those seem like nothing.) The vitreous in both of my eyes detached within weeks of LASIK surgery in one eye and PRK in the other. So, I have corrected vision, but huge floaters that make it worthless. I'd gladly go back to wearing glasses and having just the threads in my eyes, as opposed to having 20/40 vision with blobs in my eyes. Imagine having moving smudges on your glasses that you can never wipe away, and that's how floaters look - real floaters. Moral of the story: Don't get LASIK or PRK if you're highly nearsighted like me. Lots of other complications happened as well, but the floaters are by far the worst. Paid $4,000 to have both eyes permanently damaged, with vision worse than before surgery. Think before you opt for this procedure.
I'm 34, but have had floaters my whole life, as long as I can remember. Most of the time I ignore them, or maybe my brain filters them out so I can't see them (like spots on a windshield, after a few minutes of driving, you don't notice they're there).
They don't seem to be decreasing or increasing in number, they're just a fact of life.
They're most visible when looking at a large, pale, single-color field. Like on this website, a lot of the screen is white and I can see them easily. Or when looking at the sky, they're easily seen against the pale blue.
A friend of mine says she has a large orange one that's been there her whole life. It's very distracting and sometimes interferes with her ability to read. When she was a kid named it and everything.