Floaters

[Tarah]

I recently developed a floater in my left eye. Actually, doctor said it is called a posterior vitreous detachment. It is very distracting. Have any of you had one. I wonder if it will ever go away. I also have blepharitis and MGD for four years now. Hard to deal with.
Tarah

[kitty]

I have floaters in both eyes, left worse than right. They are disturbing at first. In time, I have learned to ignore them, except when the light hits my eye just so, then I have fun watching them!

[Silverlady]

Floaters

I have multiple floaters. When I developed the first one, it drove me nuts when I read. There were areas of the sentences that just disappeared. But I soon learned to ignore them. The brain just cancels them out. I've got lots of them now. They don't bother me nearly as much as the dryness does.

Billye

[calli66]

Me, too. I've had vitreous detachments in both eyes, and have tons of floaters. They don't annoy me as much as they used to, but it makes it hard to see clearly sometimes--lots of opposing movement---some swish to the right while others swish to the left. Now it sounds like I'm describing Hula Dance.

Calli

[Littlepammie49]

I get floaters from time to time in both eyes : ( They usually last about 30 minutes, then go away as quickly as they came on. VERY annoying!

[Terri]

Keeping an eye on floaters

My husband has a major problem with this right now. We have been to a retinal specialist, and we are working through recovery of the vision in his left eye.

Floaters are vitreous hemorrhages caused by a variety of events or conditions. My husband is plowing through information on the internet in the same way I am researching dry eye causes and cures. His hemorrhage was massive, and we believe it was caused by intense cardio exercise (hiking at his maximum heart rate and oxygen capacity) the day after he took a megadose of Vitamin E (800 IUs) combined with two aspirin. The exercise caused a minor vitreous separation from the veins in his retina, which would have produced a floater, but his blood was so thin that the floater turned into a large hemorrhage, totally obscuring vision in that eye by the next morning.

He is slowly recovering, and we expect full recovery will take around three months. However, we have learned that this type of hemorrhage occurs most often in people who are elderly, which he isn't, or highly myopic, due to the strain that elongation of the eye causes to the retina. It can also be associated with a variety of serious conditions, like sarcoidosis and uveitis. We are looking into these other conditions to try to make sure his experience is an isolated event and not associated with some other condition.

If you experience major or frequent floaters, it's probably worth trying to understand the cause, if at all possible. I don't think my husband will ever take Vitamin E and aspirin together again.

[calli66]

Terri,

Most floaters are not a dangerous symptom--not like your husband's situation. Bleeding (retinal tears and hemorrhaging inside the eye) causes red blood cells to float around and bits of vitreous tissue which cast shadows on the retina (black spots and spider webs).

When this happened to me, I was pretty worried--my vision was cloudy, like looking through a greasy window pane. My doctor said the blood cells would eventually sink and dissipate, which they did after about 2-3 weeks. Incidentally, the vitreous detachment/ bleeds occurred after I had been doing vigorous exercise (running on a treadmill)--two separate times. My doctor thought it was a coincidence, but I still wonder about that.

Almost everyone has a bit of debris, some cells or clusters of cells floating around in the eyeball. What you have to watch out for is a sudden change --a big increase in the number or size of floaters, sometimes in combination with flashes of light in the periphery (tugs on the retina), and get to a doctor immediately.

Calli

[stella]

Tarah
I have had posterier vitreous detatchments in both eyes - a year before i took DES
I had the accompanying floaters and flashes (the flashes worried me a lot )
I was monitered at the hospital for any tears or cracks in the retina
This is important, and if you get a sudden increase in your floaters /flashes you MUST present at Casualty/ER to have your pupils dilated and the retina examined (back of the eye)- There is a 6 - 10% chance that you could get a crack or tear in the retina with a posterier vitreous detatchment - Thats not a big % but it is unwise not to be aware of it ,as any crack in the retina is sight threatening
The good news is that if a crack in the retina is detected they can laser this and seal it and make it safe - but this must be done within 24 hours
I take it you are in the older age bracket like me
I was finally given a thorough examination 3 months after it all settled down ( I went privately to a retinal specialist)nd it was confirmed that both corneas were intact and the chances of me having any problems due to corneal detatchment were negligable - Good news indeed and that final exam gave me peace of mind
I was also told that posterier vitreous detatchment is a " normal" event in some older people and that we would all get this if we lived long enough
I understand it is when the jelly-like vitreous inside the eye (the stuff that gives it it's shape) starts to peel off the retina ,and since the retina is very delicate there is a SMALL chance it can tug at it too hard and cause a crack or tear The whole event takes about 6 weeks although i understand that any damage is usually done in the first few days of onset
Re - the flashes they died down after about 6 weeks
The floaters were very annoying for a good while but apparantly they sink or go to the sides of your eye and out of the line of your vision which is what has happened to me
Also your brain gets used to them and eventually you dont notice them any more
I must say I never notice mine now - unless i try to look for them
I remember always wanting to clean my glasses to clear them - which of course never helped
Also i had like tadpoles darting across my vision and also what seemed like cobwebs in front of my eyes - I never notice them now though ,probably because my MGD dry eyes have caused me much more trouble
Floaters are debris in the vitreous casting shadows on the retina and they can be absorbed very slowely - thats my understanding
Also - posterier vitreous detatchment is only one cause of floaters