What are Floaters?

Eye floaters are spots in your vision. They may look to you like black or gray specks, strings, or cobwebs that drift about when you move your eyes and appear to dart away when you try to look at them directly.

Most eye floaters are caused by age-related changes that occur as the jelly-like substance (vitreous) inside your eyes becomes more liquid. Microscopic fibers within the vitreous tend to clump and can cast tiny shadows on your retina. The shadows you see are called floaters. Floaters are more common in patients who are myopia (have minus no’s)

Symptoms

Symptoms of eye floaters may include:

• Small shapes in your vision that appear as dark specks or knobby, transparent strings of floating material
• Spots that move when you move your eyes, so when you try to look at them, they move quickly out of your visual field
• Spots that are most noticeable when you look at a plain bright background, such as a blue sky or a white wall

When to see a doctor

Contact an eye specialist immediately if you notice:

• Many more eye floaters than usual
• Sudden onset of new floaters
• Flashes of light in the same eye as the floaters
• Darkness on any side or sides of your vision (peripheral vision loss)

These painless symptoms could be caused by a retinal tear, with or without a retinal detachment — a sight-threatening condition that requires immediate attention.

Dr. Jagruti Desai ( M.S. Ophthalmology )

Oculus eye hospital
Tel. 9820094152, 9819983158