Floaters: Understanding Those Annoying Spots in Your Vision
Small particles moving around your eyes can be disturbing, disconcerting, and annoying. You may initially feel annoyed at the first sight of those floaters, but there’s no need to panic and see your doctor right away.
What are Floaters
Floaters are tiny specks or cobweb-like shapes that you may see floating in your vision. They are usually most noticeable when you are looking at something bright or plain, like a blue sky or a white wall.
Floaters occur when vitreous, a gel-like substance inside the eye, shrinks or clumps together. This creates small pockets of fluid within the vitreous that cast shadows on the retina, which is the part of the eye that sense light and sends signals to the brain to create images
Causes of Floaters
Floaters are caused by tiny pieces of collagen protein that break off from the vitreous a gel-like substance inside the eye. As we age, the vitreous becomes more liquid, and the collagen fibbers clump together and cast a shadow on the retina and appear as floaters.
Other causes for eye floaters are
- Vitreous detachment from the retina
- Bleeding
- Inflammation
- Eye Injuries
How to Diagnose Eye Floaters?
During an Eye Examination your eye doctor will typically identify floaters when your eyes will be dilated so that doctor can see inside of your eye clearly. This enables him to check your retina and find any floaters and is ensuring that your retina is healthy and showing no signs of a tear or detachment. If your doctor discovers eye floaters, you might need regular eye exams. This serves as a preventative measure and enables your doctor to monitor the gradual changes of your vitreous over time.
Treatment of Floaters
Most of the times, floaters are harmless and do not require treatment. It is just a matter of learning to cope with them. Few Simple exercises can help you in shifting your vision away from these particles. Like you can look down and up so that the floaters move away from your central field of view.
It is a part of the aging process and can become less noticeable as our brain learns to ignore them. But Sometimes Floaters can be a sign of a more serious underlying condition, in some cases such as retinal tear or detachment.
See your eye doctor immediately If you notice
- Sudden increase in the number of Floaters
- Flashes of light
- Blurred vision
Depending on the cause of floaters and related retinal pathology, your doctor will advise Retinal Laser or Surgery.