Eye floaters, what’s been your experience?

[greenmonster]

Last Thursday I was reading something and suddenly it was like a piece of lint was in my right eye, and it moves with my eye. I don’t have any pain, redness or have been injured. I called Kaiser and they say it’s probably age related and not much can be done. Eventually they go away.
It’s annoying because its harder to see a computer screen now, driving is fine thank goodness, but the sight in my eye is affected .
I’m making an appointment tomorrow to see my eye doctor to get checked.
Anybody have this before? Is there anything that can be done?

 

[Butch]

Yeah, yer just old.
That, and doctors are just practicing medicine. Some just don't know.

Best of heath to you. And us all.

 

[Dubermun]

I started getting them in my teens. Theyre pretty bad now. If im watching TV in a dark room i get that "lint in my eyes" fuzzy vision if i move my eyes a certain way. The only way to get rid of them is invasive surgery that involves sucking the juice out of your eye(s) and replacing it. The floaters will most likely come back anyway.

Long video but this guy recorded the entire recovery process from the surgery he had to remove the floaters. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMJ8P3FC0BI

 

[Slow Goat]

I’m 58, had my first floater in June, lasted for about three weeks then gone.

None since, Dr said it’s just aging material in the eye. Apparently it’s “reabsorbed” or something over time.

Weird as hell when it began!

 

[Frisco]

New floaters can be a sign of retinal detachment, so it’s good to have your eye doctor take a look.

 

[Eldritch]

Yeah, yer just old.
That, and doctors are just practicing medicine. Some just don't know.

Best of heath to you. And us all.

Like. This one?

Or do you think like

maybe:

 

[littlebeast]

had a weird thing happen recently. me and my SO were in the driveway fussing over one of our vehicles near midnight and a bright shooting star caught my attention. it flew across the sky directly over his head. the weird bit was, it stopped abruptly, made a sharp left turn, grew dim, and moved off slowly in that same leftward direction. i remarked to him at the time that i either just saw a UFO, or i have a detached retina. he ignored me and kept going on about the car. :nchantr

 

[m0t0_ryder]

I got my first floater earlier this year.
It lasted a few months then slowly decreased in "darkness".
I still see it occasionally but it doesn't bother me as much, especially knowing what it is.

After research (see link above) I decided it was just age related and nothing to be overly alarmed about. I'm 67.

 

[afm199]

Floaters happen with age, I don't mind them much anymore. They go away. If you lose an area of vision and it doesn't come back, resulting in a blurred patch of vision in one eye, you may have had a tiny "eye stroke." I've had a couple. Fortunately they tend to reabsorb eventually, and the eye doc can give you a shot that helps with that.

 

[HappyHighwayman]

Had them my whole life but don't notice them unless I consciously look for them

 

[greenmonster]

Yeah , I wasn’t sure what was happening the other day until I looked it up and learned about it. I think it’s instinctual to freak out a little bit at first. Animals with bad eyesight don’t last long in the wild. I’m seeing my eye doc this afternoon to see what he says. Good to know there is a good chance it will go away on it’s own.
It’s amazing how I’ve adapted over the last few days so that lessens the annoyance factor some so we’ll see what happens (pun intended)

 

[WoodsChick]

Sorry to hear of your floaters, greenmonster.

I had a pretty good head injury in 2005 when I was 42. I noticed floaters in my right eye not too long afterwards. Noticed them while watching a bird fly in the sky. Doctor said they were brought on by head trauma, and that they might go away on their own. They've never gone away, and now 15 years later I find that they're worse. My eye doctor says that its just advancing age, my neurologist says it's age-related and brain injury related and that, yeah, they probably won't go away now that I'm older. My left eye is still clear, and my right eye doesn't really bother me too much unless I'm using my telescope, trying to do close-up work, or watching birds against the sky. It is rather annoying, though.

 

[motomania2007]

It sucks but I've had floaters in my eyes as long as I can remember. I can remember seeing them when I was a teenager. There's more of them now that I'm almost 60.

 

[Beauregard]

I fought as a young man and suffered a detached retina at 19, had a great surgeon and his repair has held up well all these years, but... I've always had floaters. No big deal, just blood.

 

[greenmonster]

Dr appt is today at 4:15, stay tuned.

 

[rodr]

Good luck with the doc visit. Cataracts are also very common with ageing and are easily fixable with lens replacement.

 

[Killroy1999]

I had a floater and I was worried. I did not even know what a floater was. I went to the real eye doctor at Kaiser for the first time because I only had eye exams with physicals before.

It went away after a while. It only would pop in my vision once in a while.

 

[TylerW]

Had them since I was a kid. Freaked out then, but doc told me they're nothing to worry about.

I notice them if I want to go looking for them. I don't notice them if I don't. They haven't gotten better or worse over time.

 

[greenmonster]

So the doc says I have a posterior vitreous displacement- a floater in other words. He dialated both eyes, took 8 pictures of the inside of the right eye (where the floater is) and 5 of the left. He says I have no pathological problems, retinas are fine, no issues noted.
Mine is square in the center of my field of vision and medium in size which is why it’s so bothersome.
The treatment plan is to let nature take its course, watch and wait.
If I see flashes of light, that’s bad, if the number of floaters increases that’s bad, and every morning face a white wall, close one eye, then the other to make sure the color appears the same.
He says the eye is great at vacuuming itself out but considering the fluid in there is quite viscous it takes a little time.
Lasering it out is another solution but for now it’s wait and see.

 

[HeatXfer]

I'm not a doctor but this is what I've experienced in both eyes: As we age the gelatinous vitreous starts to liquefy. It can take a while for the whole vitreous to convert. The jelly part still attached to the retina tugs on the retina and can cause occasional flashes of light when quickly looking side to side or up & down. That part's annoying but it's not bad - Once the vitreous has completely liquefied and is no longer gelatinous the occasional flashing will stop. And of course there will probably be some floaters - some of the free floating vitreous jelly that hasn't liquefied yet. If you're seeing Las Vegas fireworks it's probably a detached retina - very bad. Go to a retina specialist, that 's what I did.

Of course as Beauregard says it can also be little strings of blood floating loose in the vitreous.