Hi everyone, need help with a few issues

[Guest]

Hi, I am a 29 year old floaters sufferer. Does anyone here have meibomian gland dysfunction or blepharitis ? I have been advised to use an eyebag / warm compress to unblock my glands but using an eyebag scares me. This is because I am worried the heat from the eyebag could melt or degenerate the vitreous causing more floaters ? Are my concerns warranted ? An optom and opthal have both told me not to worry and to use the eyebag. Are there alternatives to hot compresses ? Do you think the heat and massage technique to unblock the glands could cause astigmatism or floaters?

do you think not treating mgd could lead to floaters ?

One day out of nowhere i started to see these groups of tiny almost perfect circles rain down my vision. Sometimes i have seen them up close, asif i have zoomed into one of them and it is like they have a bullseye appearance. Does anyone else experience these floaters ? What do you think causes them ?

Has anyone here ever got caught in a vicious cycle ? 1. see floaters 2. go see a opthal or optom 3. feel reassured...but then you go back to step 1 ? I cant seem to get out. Does anyone have any advice ? I cant seem to let go and move on, thankyou.

[Rebecca Petris]

Hello & welcome!

Floaters and MGD/bleph really are completely unrelated. Neither treating nor failing to treat MGD should make any difference at all to floaters. You are not going to hurt your vitreous by doing warm massages.

When you ask eye doctors about your floaters, they are probably going to be dismissive because it's not considered a problem medically (exception: when you have a lot of new ones suddenly, esp if you also have light flashes, in which case you may need a retinal exam).

As an example, for what it's worth: I had floaters all my life. When I had LASIK 20 years ago, I had a whole lot of new ones, which I've had ever since. These floaters never mattered to anyone except me (it may be visually annoying, but it's not a threat to vision or health of the eye, so the doctors don't notice or care). Then, I had an eye injury last month (hit in the eye with a stone). The day after, I had a lot of solid black new floaters and I had a lot of light flashes for an hour or two, so I had to see a retina specialist quite urgently to make sure I was not having a retinal tear. He confirmed that I had had a PVD (post vitreous detachment) and they put me on a follow-up schedule because for various reasons I am rather high risk, but I have not had a retinal tear, so now it's just all about getting used to the new floaters. In my experience they eventually just become 'background noise'.

Do you think the heat and massage technique to unblock the glands could cause astigmatism or floaters?

About the ASTIGMATISM part of this question: I think that it's important to get specific directions from dr about how warm to make the compress and how gently to do the massage. Being rough on your lids every day over the long term may have risks. For example, keratoconus is associated with habitual eye rubbing.

You also asked about alternatives to eyebags. You don't have to use the heavy beanbag style ones. There are lightweight ones like Eyegiene, also Thermoeyes Instants are good. Some of the USB ones might not be a bad idea. But I'd clear any choices with your eye doctor. - Many people have their eye doctor express their MGs during visits and don't attempt to do any massage at home. There's lots of options for sure.

[Guest]

Thankyou very much, this is a really helpful reply