As you age, the vitreous — a jelly-like material inside your eyes — liquifies and contracts. When this happens, microscopic collagen fibers in the vitreous tend to clump together. These scattered pieces cast tiny shadows onto your retina. The shadows you see are called floaters.
Floaters and flashes are usually harmless
in your vision, it's not usually a sign of anything serious, especially if: you've had them for a long time. they're not getting worse. your vision is not affected.
What causes floaters? Floaters usually happen because of normal changes in your eyes. As you age, tiny strands of your vitreous (the gel-like fluid that fills your eye) stick together and cast shadows on your retina (the light-sensitive layer of tissue at the back of the eye). Those shadows appear as floaters.
Options may include surgery to remove the vitreous or a laser to disrupt the floaters, although both procedures are rarely done. Surgery to remove the vitreous. An ophthalmologist who is a specialist in retina and vitreous surgery removes the vitreous through a small incision (vitrectomy).
In most cases, you don't need to treat floaters. They can be annoying at first, but over time you won't notice they're there anymore. Sometimes this is mistaken with them going away completely. Floaters can get less pronounced, but they are permanent and stay in eye.
Most of the time floaters are harmless. However, they can be a symptom of a tear in the retina. (The retina is the layer in the back of the eye.) If you notice a sudden increase in floaters or if you see floaters along with flashes of light in your side vision, this may be a symptom of a retinal tear or detachment.
Do Floaters Ever Go Away? When the vitreous detachment is clean and gradual, any increase in eye floaters usually subsides in one to six months. An occasional floater may appear now and then, but knowing they are harmless, most people learn to live with them.
If you notice a sudden increase in eye floaters, contact an eye specialist immediately — especially if you also see light flashes or lose your vision. These can be symptoms of an emergency that requires prompt attention.
If you frequently experience stress you might wonder, can stress cause eye floaters? The simple answer is, stress alone is not responsible for eye floaters appearing. Eye floaters are caused by deterioration of the vitreous humor which often happens as people age.
You might have noticed small black spots or tiny flecks in your vision, particularly when you look at bright, plain coloured backgrounds, like a white wall or the sky. They can also look like little threads, squiggly lines or cobwebs, and are known as floaters.
High blood pressure can cause floaters in your vision due to retinal haemorrhages or substances leaking out of the blood vessels. Increased pressure on the blood vessels can block blood flow through a vein or artery, leading to sudden, painless vision loss.
Dehydration is another cause of eye floaters. The vitreous humour in your eyes is made of 98% of water. If you're constantly dehydrated, this gel-like substance can lose shape or shrink. This can lead to the occurrence of floaters because the proteins in this substance do not remain dissolved and thus, they solidify.
There are no eye drops, medications, vitamins or diets that will reduce or eliminate floaters once they have formed. It's important to continue your annual eye exam, so your eye doctor can identify any eye health issues that may arise. If floaters continue to bother you, visit your VSP network doctor for advice.
For many, floaters may begin showing up between 50 and 70 years old. "Vitreous degeneration is accelerated by nearsightedness (myopia), inflammation, trauma and rare inherited abnormalities," adds Dr. Worrall. "Highly nearsighted patients tend to have more floaters than average."
While eye floaters cannot directly cause you to go blind, if they are caused by a serious underlying retinal condition, it could lead to blindness if not treated. If your retina has a bleeding hole, is inflamed, even has retinal detachment, and you do not receive proper treatment, it may lead to blindness.
Vitrectomy/Laser Therapy
If the floaters are a major nuisance or severely hinder your vision, the best way to get rid of them is through either vitrectomy or the use of lasers. A vitrectomy is a procedure in which your doctor will remove the gel-like substance (vitreous) that keeps the shape of your eye round.
While anyone who has eye floaters should make an appointment with an optometrist in order to receive a proper diagnosis and potential treatment, there are some signs that may require someone to make an appointment as soon as possible.
The floaters often subside starting within a few days, and all but a few settle to the bottom of the eye and disappear within a 6-month period. Some residual floaters can be seen for life.
Eye floaters are common, and they might be a nuisance, but they're usually not anything to worry about. If you have a lot of floaters that appear suddenly, or other eye symptoms along with eye floaters, seek medical care right away.
Although small floaters can be seen at any age, the larger, more noticeable ones that sometimes appear suddenly tend to come when the vitreous gel liquefies enough to pull away from the retina. This is caused a POSTERIOR VITREOUS DETACHMENT (PVD).
If floaters appear abruptly and in a great number, sometimes in a manner described as a spider web that blocks part of the visual field, and especially if they are combined with flashing lights, we should go to emergencies in order to rule out a retinal tear and the subsequent risk of suffering a retinal detachment.