Floaters: Floaters look like small specks, dots, circles, lines or cobwebs in the field of vision. They move as your eyes move and seem to dart away when you try to look at them directly. Floaters are tiny clumps of gel or cells inside the vitreous that fills eye.
What you see are the shadows these clumps cast on the retina. They do not follow your eye movements accurately and normally drift when your eyes stop moving.
At a young age, the vitreous is transparent, As we age, our vitreous starts to thicken or shrink. The common type of floater, which is present in most persons’ eyes, is due to degenerative changes in the vitreous humour.
If the vitreous pulls away from the back of the eye, then it is designated, posterior vitreous detachment. Floaters ordinarily occur with posterior vitreous detachment. They are not serious, and they tend to fade or go away over time. Severe floaters can be eliminated by surgery, but this is rarely necessary.
Causes and Risk Factors of Eye floaters
Vitreous, a gel-like substance that fills about 80 percent of the eye and helps it maintain a round shape, slowly shrinks. As the vitreous shrinks, it becomes somewhat stringy, and the strands can cast tiny shadows on the retina. These are floaters.
Floaters are more likely to develop as we age and are more common in people who are very nearsighted, have diabetes, or who have had a cataract operation. Floaters may be a sign of retinal detachment or a retinal tear.
Risk factors that can increase your risk of floaters include:
- Age over 50
- Eye trauma
- Nearsightedness
- Complications from cataract surgery
- Eye inflammation
- Diabetic retinopathy
Symptoms of Eye Floaters
Symptoms of eye floaters may include-
Spots in your vision that, such as small dark dots, squiggly lines, rings or cobwebs
- Spots that move when you move eyes, so while you at
- tempt to look at them, they jump quickly out of your visual field
- Spots that are most noticeable at a plain bright background
- Spots that ultimately settle down and flow out of the line of vision
Treatment of Eye Floaters
For people who possess floaters that are simply annoying, no treatment is recommended.
If your eye floaters impair your vision, which happens rarely, you and your eye doctor may consider treatment.
- Enzymatic vitreolysis has been trialed to treat vitreomacular traction (VMT) and anomalous posterior vitreous detachment.
- Using a laser to disrupt the floaters
- Using surgery to remove the vitreous
A vitrectomy removes the vitreous gel, along with its floating debris, from the eye.
This operation carries notable risks to sight because of possible complications, which comprise retinal detachment, retinal tears, and cataract. Most eye specialists are unwilling to recommend this surgery except the floaters seriously interfere with vision.
Prognosis of Eye Floaters
The prognosis for common eye floaters is good. Quite over 90% of people with floaters are not annoyed by their presence.
Eye Floaters Complications
- Torn retina
- Detached retina
- Cataracts
- If Eye Floaters happen continuously, there can be a low risk of permanently damage your vision.
