Eye Floaters

[Cookiely]

I've developed an eye floater this week and its driving me batty. Does anyone else suffer with this? Did you get used to it?

[susankissinger]

If the floaters are sudden and severe you should at least check in with you eye doc.....

[azskyman]

Three years ago, I developed this condition within just a few minutes while swimming in our pool. For a short time, I thought I had something in my eye from the pool water.

It remained for several days and was just to the right and below my central vision in the right eye.

I went to my eye doctor who checked me out for a more serious condition. He could not detect anything, but the vision in the lower part of that eye was dramatically "cluttered." It was more a frustration than anything, as that eye had always been my strongest.

I also followed up with a retina specialist twice and have seen no sign of a retinal tear or other type of eye injury or disease.

But, I do wake up each day with several "floaters" in that eye that have not gone away. If anything, they have become somewhat worse.

And so I live with a nuisance loss of a percentage of my sight. Some days I forget about them as I get busy doing other things. Other days they are a real aggravation.

There is surgery to help correct them, but among the risks is total loss of sight in the eye.

Don't think so.

I know this doesn't help much, but at least you know there are others with the same condition.

Steve

[Dionne]

I've had multiple floaters in both eyes for years. Been to more optometrists than I can count. I've been snowblinded on several occasions.....opinions vary as to whether or not this could be trauma induced. While they are a nuisance, you do get used to them. The only thing that really bothers me is the recent problem of not being able to read a tape measure without eye glasses.....which I suspect is age.

You should see a doctor. Someone has to make that Lexus payment.

[Stephanie]

I've had them for years as well. I just got used to them. If one gets in the way of looking at something I'll just blink my eyes or look in a different direction and it's gone.

If this is something that just happened, I would go and see your doctor. They could be a sign of retinal detachment, especially if you just had recent trauma to your head or if you've also been seeing flashes of light out of the corner of your eye. At the very least, if you haven't been to the eye doctor to have your eyes examed for a while, I would do so. I could be nothing more than just normal deterioration due to age.

[abajan]

Cookiely, get that checked out by an ophthalmologist ASAP. I had a similar situation 5 years ago in my right eye and ignored it to my detriment because it was the first sign of a long retinal tear.

For as long as I can recall, I've always had floaters but this particular one remained in the same area of my visual field no matter how much I tried to reposition it by moving my eyes. First it was the floater, then as I was reading a newspaper a few days later, a bunch of black blobs resembling dirty oil floating on water (it was actually blood) suddenly obstructed my sight in that eye. Clearly, at that point I should have gone to the doctor but, believe it or not, I chose to ignore that symptom as well! However, in the days that followed my vision got cloudier and cloudier and I hightailed it to the doctor. Had I waited any longer, he told me that extensive surgery would have been required instead of the laser surgery that he performed.

[Cookiely]

Thank you all for your advice. I'm going to the Dr. this week to get it checked out.

[Cyclenall]

I just found out about them on Family Guy a few months back lol. Peter Griffin's eye floater was talking . I have never had one but I do notice small round circles that float around that remind me of 2D bubbles over my vision. It's from the natural tears you create.

[Ed Mahmoud]

I've had a few floaters all my life. IIRC, the permanent ones are the remnants of the tiny blood vessels that nourished the eyes before birth as it developed.


A sudden change in anything physical, and I'd see a doctor.

[MGC]

I have floaters in both eyes, had them for years. They bug me but you get use to them. The only problem I have is I sometime see the floater move across my field of vision and think it is something when in reality there is nothing there. I did suffer from a partially detached retina years ago. I noticed a shadowing in my vision in one eye. Dr said it was not bad enough to fix....MGC

[abajan]

I just found out about them on Family Guy a few months back lol. Peter Griffin's eye floater was talking . I have never had one but I do notice small round circles that float around that remind me of 2D bubbles over my vision. It's from the natural tears you create.

Actually, what you're describing doesn't sound like anything to do with tears which are external. It's more likely to be a small speck of blood or some other naturally occurring flotsam inside the eye. Nothing to be alarmed about - quite normal. (Anyone reading this would swear I'm an ophthalmologist! )

[vbhoutex]

Cookiely, do you have an update for us?

[Cyclenall]

I just found out about them on Family Guy a few months back lol. Peter Griffin's eye floater was talking . I have never had one but I do notice small round circles that float around that remind me of 2D bubbles over my vision. It's from the natural tears you create.

Actually, what you're describing doesn't sound like anything to do with tears which are external. It's more likely to be a small speck of blood or some other naturally occurring flotsam inside the eye. Nothing to be alarmed about - quite normal. (Anyone reading this would swear I'm an ophthalmologist! )

It's probably flotsams (what is that?). It's normal because one will notice this right at the beginning of one's life and it doesn't change.

[abajan]

It's probably flotsams (what is that?)...

Flotsam and jetsam is debris from ships. A fuller explanation can be found at Wikipedia. Suffice it to say that the word "flotsam" (an "s" is never added) is plural (one of those words in English without a singular form) and to my knowledge almost always appears together with the word "jetsam" (which, by the way, is also plural without a singular form) i.e "flotsam & jetsam" and in that order (one never hears of "jetsam & flotsam").

Of course, I didn't mean to imply that you may have ship debris in your eye! More likely than not, your floaters are small bits of tissue, perhaps even individual cells, that have become detached and are suspended in one or more of the fluid sections inside your eye(s).

Just bear in mind that I'm no doctor and may not know what the heck I'm saying!

[Frank2]

I've had "clear" floaters for decades (just the circular outline is visible), so I became used to them (since they could only be seen under certain conditions), but earlier last year my right eye vision began to seem blurry, and after a very thorough exam (the only thing he didn't do was remove my eyeball and put it under a microscope) I was diagnosed with a cadillac, er, cataract - in both eyes.

I felt pretty bad about it (being not that far beyond 50), but was told that even children get them - due to too much bright sunlight exposure (at this time of year, the sun angle maximum down here is at 87%, so the only shade is under a person's feet)...

It's almost a year later and thank God so far so good, so we'll see what happens - the doctor said it's one of those conditions where the patient lets the doctor know when it's time to operate, versus most other problems...

Oh, well - now I know how Mary Ingalls felt!

LOL

P.S. As the others said, if you had a sudden appearance of a floater, perhaps it's best to see your opthamologist (or an optomotrist that has his or her own practice)...

P.P.S. Huh - just as I typed this an advertisement on the radio mentioned an optomotrist - there's your answer...

[Cyclenall]

It's probably flotsams (what is that?)...

Flotsam and jetsam is debris from ships. A fuller explanation can be found at Wikipedia. Suffice it to say that the word "flotsam" (an "s" is never added) is plural (one of those words in English without a singular form) and to my knowledge almost always appears together with the word "jetsam" (which, by the way, is also plural without a singular form) i.e "flotsam & jetsam" and in that order (one never hears of "jetsam & flotsam").

Of course, I didn't mean to imply that you may have ship debris in your eye! More likely than not, your floaters are small bits of tissue, perhaps even individual cells, that have become detached and are suspended in one or more of the fluid sections inside your eye(s).

Just bear in mind that I'm no doctor and may not know what the heck I'm saying!

I actually looked it up in a dictionary a few days ago and saw that, lol. It's basically debris from ships and planes floating on water (tons of that recently because of the high # of aviation disasters).

[Cookiely]

I went to the Dr. and got examined and they increased my reading prescription otherwise everything is the same. No retinal tears or other problems but they acted like the floater is no big deal. Its very depressing. Most of the time its slightly lower than the midline so its visible and then for no reason or shift in my vision the thing moves like crazy. It even makes me a little queasy. I get motion sickness easy. I once got sea sick in a small aluminum boat on a small lake because it was a little breezy. I'm praying like crazy that this thing gets absorbed.

[Pburgh]

Cookie, you'll bet used to it - I promise. Glad all else was ok.

[Stephanie]

I'm glad that there were no signs of a retinal tear, etc. Karan is right about getting used to it. One day, you'll forget that you even have it.

[abajan]

I went to the Dr. and got examined and they increased my reading prescription otherwise everything is the same. No retinal tears or other problems but they acted like the floater is no big deal. Its very depressing. Most of the time its slightly lower than the midline so its visible and then for no reason or shift in my vision the thing moves like crazy. It even makes me a little queasy. I get motion sickness easy. I once got sea sick in a small aluminum boat on a small lake because it was a little breezy. I'm praying like crazy that this thing gets absorbed.

I know just what you mean, Cookiely. Floaters can be quite annoying and sometimes downright depressing if you think about them too much. When I had my last checkup a couple weeks ago, my ophthalmologist also dismissed them as no big deal.

Apparently, there is some evidence that reducing one's intake of protein may help to get rid of them. But I know a lady who several years ago had a similar operation to mine and those pesky floaters have never left her vision. I'm sure there must be a natural remedy somewhere.