Coping with Eye Floaters: What Patients Should Know
In most cases, eye floaters are generally an unavoidable part of aging. While they won’t disappear, eventually, most people are able to ignore them. However, for some, floaters in their vision may indicate a more serious condition, such as a retinal detachment. Should certain signs and symptoms appear, particularly those making it difficult to see clearly, you may need to quickly seek medical attention, to enable early diagnosis and treatment of the underlying conditions.
Common Floater Signs and Symptoms
With floaters, in your field of vision, you’ll see spots, squiggly lines, shadowy shapes, or anything else, slowly drifting, and taking on various forms, as they dart in the directions you view. They generally develop in one eye at a time, and while annoying, as time passes, you probably won’t even notice them. Despite blinking, they always return to your field of vision.
Eye Floater Identifiers and Causes
While almost everyone deals with an occasional eye floater (also known as myodesopsia), they’re especially common in people between 50 and 70 years old. Floaters usually result from posterior vitreous detachment (PVD), a common, age-related condition in which the eye’s vitreous — the clear, gel-like substance filling most of the eye — loses its thickness and begins shrinking. Microscopic collagen fibers in the vitreous may clump together, casting tiny shadows on the center of the retina, resulting in the visual appearance of shapes floating in your central field of vision.
Other Causes of Eye Floaters
Aging aside, being nearsighted, or myopic, may cause PVD to occur more rapidly, increasing floater development, especially in younger people. Otherwise, floaters are uncommon in patients 16 or under, unless they have eye diseases. Myopic patients may also have higher risks for retinal tears and detachment, which are themselves associated with floater development.
Floaters may develop due to uveitis, a condition involving eye inflammation. Or, they may stem from having blood in your eye, such as with diabetic retinopathy, in which chronic high blood glucose levels damage the retina’s tiny blood vessels. Other floater causes include having past eye issues, like intraocular (within the eye) swelling, or having had cataract surgery. Although occasional floaters are not a concern, you should mention them during your annual eye exam.
Recognizing When Floaters Are Serious Concerns
While floaters can be harmless, select symptoms may indicate more serious conditions, specifically, retinal tears and retinal detachments, both requiring immediate medical attention. The sudden appearance of many new floaters is a tell-tale indicator of these conditions. You should also quickly alert your ophthalmologist if you start observing repeated flashes of light in the same eye as the floaters, gray curtains or blurriness obstructing vision, or darkness in your peripheral vision.
Get Advanced Care for Eye Floaters
While eye floaters are a common annoyance typically associated with aging, they can indicate more serious disorders, making regular monitoring essential. To schedule a retinal exam in Augusta, GA or Aiken, SC, please contact The Retina Eye Center today.