Do You Have “Floaters”?

You’re not alone if you see squiggly, flickery, little black spots in your eyes that seem to disappear when you try to look directly at them. Although they seem strange and may even be alarming, the truth is seven out of ten people experience some version of eye floaters during their lives.

There are different types of floaters, but all occur in the vitreous gel, the clear substance that fills your eyes, helping your eyeballs maintain their shape and allowing light to pass through your retinas. When you are born and throughout your youth, the vitreous has a gel-like consistency. But as you age, the vitreous becomes stringy, begins to shrink, and particles form in the gel. These particles block the light passing through your eyes and cast shadows on your retina, which you see as floaters.

Possible causes of floaters may be:

• Bursting blood vessels in your retina – These floaters usually look little black dots, which can resemble smoke or a cloud of gnats. They can last for months, but usually resolve themselves as your body reabsorbs the blood.
• The formation of protein clumps -These floaters usually look like cobwebs, squiggles or tadpoles. They remain in the vitreous gel permanently, and can be ignored.
• Posterior vitreous detachment (PVD) – When the vitreous gel pulls away from your retina, floaters resemble cobwebs, a mist or a veil that obscures a portion of your field of vision. These floaters usually become less noticeable after a few months. Lightening streaks or light flashes accompanied by floaters can also be PVD. These flashes may appear off and on for weeks or months, but usually eventually

Floaters and flashes could signal a health problem if you experience a rapid onset of them. Their sudden appearance could mean that the vitreous is pulling away from your retina or that your retina is becoming dislodged from the back of your eye. When the retina is torn, vitreous can invade the opening and push out the retina, leading to a retinal detachment.

If you have questions, would like to know more or are concerned about floaters, call to schedule a consultation appointment, today: In Reading (781) 942-9876; In Melrose (781) 662-2216.