New Floater

[Mewkiss]

A few days ago I noticed a black "thread-like" thing across my vision in my right eye. I notice it the most when I'm reading with a white background.

I coincidentally had an appointment with my PCP yesterday and she said it was associated with my DES.

First, is this true and if so is there anything I can do about it or is this yet one other thing I have to live with.

I have plans to try to get to Dr. Carver in the next few months but I wanted to find out now if this is DES related and what options I may have.

Thanks

[Rebecca Petris]

Sounds like a vitreous floater. Does it move around? But I would see an eye doc for anything like that that appears suddenly or is very dark or large.

First, is this true and if so is there anything I can do about it or is this yet one other thing I have to live with.

Well, IF it's a floater, then the answers are no, no and yes.

Floaters are TOTALLY unrelated to your DES. Floaters are shadows from stuff floating in your vitreous. There's nothing much to be done with them. In some rare cases where they're severe enough to really impair vision, there's some elective treatments people get, but these have pretty significant risks. - Personally I have roughly a gajillion floaters, most though not all new since my LASIK in 2001.

[Mewkiss]

[QUOTE=Rebecca Petris;76127]Sounds like a vitreous floater. Does it move around? But I would see an eye doc for anything like that that appears suddenly or is very dark or large.

Hi Rebecca,

It looks like a black thread to the right of my pupil. If I move my eyes to look elsewhere it seems to stay in the same spot.

What causes this to happen?

I have been pretty sick but I hope to get to Dr. Dan Carver in a month or so about my DES and now this.

Thanks again

You know, I'm not sure what it's doing. When I blink it goes up and then it drops down but it seems to be always on the right side of my eyeball.

[Rebecca Petris]

You know, I would call whatever eye doc you last saw and maybe have them put you on the phone with a tech to figure out whether this is something you need to be seen for. Or call Dr. Carver's office and just explain - bet they could help.

I have some that stay more or less in the same place but I think they all move somewhat when I move my eye. I remember when I had some new, darker ones that concerned me because they 'behaved' differently (I was having some flashers around the same time), I went straight to the retina doc to get checked out. I was fine, but I would always be on the safe side of that kind of thing just in case.

[Mewkiss]

I don't have a lot of confidence in the last Opthalmologist I saw from my insurance which is why I will go see Dr. Carver. She gives no information and withholds important things. (I found this out after reading here).

When I saw her with the feeling of stuff scraping my eyeballs she said this to me. "Don't worry you aren't going blind I just want to put in punctal plugs."

I went home and Googled the plugs and found out what I had and then found this forum. She never gave me a diagnosis and did no testing to determine the cause of the dryness. She asked me if I took Omega 3 but when I told her I had a hard time with it she dropped it. After learning here how important Omega 3 is I found some that I can take. I just don't like doctors like that.

I am quite ill and can barely talk on the phone let alone leave the house for an appointment but I will try to go soon. I'm falling apart !

Thanks.

I found this guy who is in my insurance. How do you know a doctor is good?

http://www.oceyeassociates.com/

[poppy]

If your PCP is telling you that dry eye causes floaters, then you should dump that doctor as they are telling you an absolute load of rubbish to get rid of you.

The only way that dry eye could possibly cause a floater would be if the dry eye inflammation spread to the inside of your eye (ie, uveitis). Not a very plausible scenario, and certainly not something that a doctor should just dismiss if they really believed this was the case (it would be a serious vision threatening problem).

I'm going to have be a negative nelly here sorry but I don't believe there is any point whatsoever in seeing a doctor of any kind about a single floater. You are just going to be ridiculed, dismissed and labelled as a hypochondriac and you will not receive a proper examination or any tests of any kind. You might as well flush your money down the toilet and save yourself the trouble. My opinion is based on my experience of seeing many eye doctors and I have extremely severe floaters (literally tens of thousands) covering my entire field of vision, that grow in thickness on a weekly basis and I believe are going to seriously affect my vision at this rate within a couple of years. They are a psychological torture that affects my ability to concentrate on simple every day tasks. I have told this to many doctors and they have never even examined the inside of my eyes. They just make rude and dismissive comments and take my money. If the floaters are caused by an eye disease then treatment of that disease can prevent any worsening but the fact is that an eye doctor isn't going to evaluate you for an eye disease just because you have one floater. It's like asking the ER for a brain MRI on a Sunday because you have a bit of a headache. The only way to get rid of eye floaters is with a vitrectomy surgery which has significant risks and the vast majority of eye doctors will flat out refuse to do this surgery no matter the severity of your floaters. Again sorry to be negative but I just want to save you from wasting your time, money and hope on this like I have done. You just have to try to deal with it the best way you can on your own. And if you find out how to cope with them, please tell me how

Edit: I'll just add that some of my floaters are highly mobile whereas others, like yours, only move a small amount. It sounds like a floater, and regardless of whether it is or not, the doctor is going to think it's probably a floater. And they are taught, when you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras. What I mean is, the doc is going to think it's a floater and dismiss it as such whether it is or not. Save yourself a couple hundred bucks and don't go.

[eyemech]

Really really bad bad advice.
For one patient to tell another patient to not waste their time with sudden onset floaters. Oh MY GOSH!
If you are that one percent having a retinal detachment and our expert tells you just to disregard it, you will go blind.
You need a dilated eye exam to rule out retinal detachment.

Never, never listen to armchair quarterbacks when it comes to sudden onset floaters. NEVER!
This is a case where it is far better to be safe than sorry.
Here is a pretty good YouTube video to watch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Lxu3cUguM0

[littlemermaid]

Eyemech, Can you take a moment to think about what it is like to be Poppy and suffer the pain she is doing, seeing many many hospital docs without successful treatment? Note she is in Australia. Can you think of some constructive feedback for her too? (great video btw)

It is important to appreciate that some of us are cleaned out of money without results or even certain diagnosis, feeling conned, years later, and that even for those who are insured the insurance doesn't cover what we need in chronic complex care.

Since we know who you are, your internet profile and bedside manner are important, and, interestingly, permanent.

This is a truly international open forum with participants from less developed countries with less access to eye doctors - people are very keen to hear your experience about new treatments that work, and this would be a great and kind service - but may not be able to access them yet.

[Mewkiss]

Hi all,

I have an appointment next week with a guy in my insurance that went to Harvard and Yale, was voted one of the top docs in the county for 3 years running and is the team doc for some Orange County CA sports teams. Aside from the floater my eye intermittently throbs and feels odd so I need to do it. I also have DES so I can finally get that looked at.

I have a horrible disease unrelated to my DES and so I do get Poppy's contempt for the medical community, but I would never tell someone not to go to a doctor since you never know what is what.

As for my doctor, I had an appointment anyway. If she is uneducated about floaters and diseases of the eye then I'll tell her. Obviously I came here because I knew I would get the information I need.

I'll let you know how my appointment goes. Thanks all for your help. I'd rather be safe about this.

Thanks.

[poppy]

Really really bad bad advice.
For one patient to tell another patient to not waste their time with sudden onset floaters. Oh MY GOSH!
If you are that one percent having a retinal detachment and our expert tells you just to disregard it, you will go blind.
You need a dilated eye exam to rule out retinal detachment.

Never, never listen to armchair quarterbacks when it comes to sudden onset floaters. NEVER!
This is a case where it is far better to be safe than sorry.
Here is a pretty good YouTube video to watch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Lxu3cUguM0

You seem to misunderstand my post, let me clarify. I AGREE that someone with floaters should receive a thorough dilated eye exam. The point I am trying to make is that in my experience an eye doctor is extremely unlikely to do this, especially for a single floater! I have been to many many eye doctors and I have complained many times about very severe floaters, accompanied by other symptoms and the doc has never done a dilated eye exam. I have asked for one, and was verbally abused as a result. So to make myself clear, I am just trying to point out to the poster that the doctor is unlikely to take their problem seriously or actually investigate the problem, thus they will probably waste their money. I guess since the poster is going to see the doc anyway, they can always mention it but I would be really surprised if the doc volunteers a dilated exam. If they do, I suppose it means that standards of care are vastly higher in the poster's home country. Also, perhaps eyemech you could write to the many docs I have been to and explain that floaters require a dilated eye exam as they don't seem to be aware of this?

[robster]

I have to disagree with you there Poppy. When I went to my local optician(not my LASIK company) to complain about my sudden onset of floaters after LASIK they took me very seriously and had me back in the next day to do a dilated pupil exam. I'm sorry the people you have seen have not taken your floaters seriously Poppy but that doesn't mean that whoever Mewkiss sees will have the same opinion.

[Rebecca Petris]

Poppy,

Could this be due to the difference between complaining about floaters in the context of other stuff, and reporting sudden onset floaters? Try calling up a doctor who doesn't know you from adam, and saying, I have some floaters that just appeared overnight, and see if they don't recommend you be seen right away. If a doctor refuses to do appropriate exams when you're experiencing sudden onset floaters, that is absolutely indefensible and I would probably contact the appropriate medical authority. - I also will say... writing with some trepidation lest I offend you unduly... I know it's hard to be positive when you've had bad experiences with doctors, but the more antagonism you walk in the door with, and the worse you expect them to be, the less likely their response is to be helpful. The opposite is true too in my experience.

There's an interesting article here about the decision making process for a doctor trying to determine whether to refer for a dilated fundus exam.

Eyemech, I love the backup on the urgency of someone being seen for sudden onset floaters and its applicability to Mewkiss. There's a lot of china in this shop though, so we try to tread gently

[spmcc]

I have to agree with Poppy. Most of my friends have floaters and they've been told it's common, harmless, perhaps annoying, but learn to live with it. It's like tinnitus - who cares?!? It wasn't until one of my friends had flashes too that a doctor took notice.

[Mewkiss]

I think it's a gross generalization to say live with something because some people had harmless floaters. I don't want to be the small percentage that does have a major problem and ends up blind because of it. IMO

[spmcc]

That's the point... and what Poppy was saying too. Floaters should be thoroughly checked out - esp when someone has eye problems. This should be done at the onset, not when things have progressed. Floaters shouldn't be pooh-poohed as common, harmless, deal with it.