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March 17, 2010
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Eye Floaters

Medical Author: Andrew A. Dahl, MD, FACS
Medical Editor: Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD

Viewer Comments

Featured patient discussions on eye floaters

"I am a 45 year old female who began to have major floaters about 5 years ago. In the last year they have gotten worse. I have to focus on something a few seconds before the floaters move enough to allow me to see it clearly. This makes it very difficult to drive on unfamiliar roads at night. My ophthalmologist says nothing can be done and the fact that I am extremely nearsighted makes the floaters even more obvious to me! She has also told me that the surgeons who claim to get rid of the floaters simply "bust up" the floaters and they become smaller, but all the gel is still there."


Patient Discussions are not a substitute for professional medical advice, or treatment.
See the disclaimer at the bottom of the comments page.
Doctor to Patient

What are eye floaters?

"Eye floaters" are deposits or condensation in the vitreous jelly of the eye. People use the term eye floaters to describe seeing floating spots within their vision when they look around. Eye floaters may be present in only one eye or both eyes.

Why do people notice eye floaters?

The structures in the front of the eye (the cornea and lens) focus rays of light onto the retina. Light focused onto the retina allows one to see. The light going to the retina passes through the vitreous humor, which is a jellylike material which occupies the back 2/3 of the eye. At birth and during childhood years, the vitreous gel is totally clear. Later in life, sometimes strands, deposits, or liquid pockets develop within the vitreous jelly. Each of these strands casts a small shadow onto the surface of the retina, and these shadows are perceived by the patient as eye floaters. As the eye moves from side to side or up and down, these strands, deposits, or pockets also shift in position within the eye, making the shadows also move and appear to float or undulate.

What do eye floaters look like?

People describe eye floaters as spots, straight and curved lines, strings, or "O" or "C" shaped blobs. Some people see a single floater while others may think they see hundreds. The lines may be thick or thin, and they sometimes appear to be branched. To most people, they appear grey or dark in color. The density of different eye floaters will vary within an individual eye. Eye floaters may be more noticeable under certain lighting conditions and be more apparent when looking at a bright sky.

Like fingerprints, no two people have exactly identical patterns of eye floaters. If a person has eye floaters in both eyes, the pattern of the eye floaters in each eye will be different. In any eye that has eye floaters, that pattern of eye floaters may also change over time.

Eye floaters always appear darker than the background and cannot be seen in darkness or with the eyes closed. This is unlike flashes, which often are seen in the dark and with your eyes closed.



Next: What are the causes of eye floaters? »

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Floaters

What is the structure of the eye?

The eyes are complex sensory organs. About 85% of the total sensory input to our brains originates from our sense of sight, while the other 15% comes from the other four senses of hearing, smell, touch, and taste. The eyes are designed to optimize vision under conditions of varying light. Their location, on the outside of the face, makes them susceptible to trauma, environmental chemicals and particles, and infectious agents. The eyelids and the position of the eye within the bony orbital cavity are the major protective mechanism for the eye.

The eye itself has the shape of a sphere measuring about 1 inch in diameter. It consists of a clear, transparent dome at the front (the cornea) that is surrounded by the white of the eyeball (the sclera). The iris of the eye is the circular, colored portion within the eye, and behind the cornea, and the pupil is the central opening within the iris. Behind the iris and pupil is the e...

Read the Eye Care article »











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