Are floaters a sign of a serious eye problem?
Carlsbad CA eye doctor
Most people have floaters in their eyes from time to time. These are small spots, threads, or shapes that drift across your field of vision like shadows. They’re generally most obvious when you’re looking at a plain background, like a white wall or clear sky. When you move your eyes, the floaters usually move around a bit too.
What causes these strange drifting shapes to appear? And more importantly, do they indicate a serious problem that could threaten your vision?
Floaters are usually harmless
The good news is that floaters are almost always harmless. They’re simply caused by small pieces of debris in the eye.
The inside of the eyeball is filled with a substance called the vitreous body (also known as the vitreous humor, or simply “the vitreous”). It’s a clear, gel-like substance that helps to maintain the spherical shape of the eyeball, while still allowing light to pass through to the retina (the light-sensing tissue at the back of the eye).
As we age, the vitreous loses some of the collagen fibers that help it to hold its shape. This causes it to shrink, and also to become a bit more watery. Pieces of it may clump together and float around inside
the eye. You then see the shadows of these bits of vitreous as light passes through them on its way to your retina.
Floaters are very common – one study found that 76% of people had recently experienced them, and they become increasingly common as people get older. Most of the time, they don’t indicate any major problem with the eye. They can sometimes be a little annoying, but won’t cause any serious issues.
Signs that your floaters could indicate a serious eye problem
Although most floaters are nothing to worry about, there are some cases where they could indicate a serious issue with your eye.
Here are the main signs to watch out for:
- A sudden increase in floaters. Tissue damage in the eye can cause blood and pieces of tissue to be released inside the eyeball. These will often show up in your vision as floaters. If there’s a sudden increase in the number of floaters that you see, this could indicate an eye problem.
- Flashes of light. A flash of light in your vision sometimes indicates a problem with the retina. This will often be accompanied by an increase in floaters, though not always. An occasional flash of light is very normal, but if you start to see an increase in flashes or the flashes are brighter or more obvious than usual, this could be a sign of an eye issue.
- Changes in your vision. If your floaters are accompanied by an area of blurry vision, an area of darkened vision, or a “curtain” that seems to block part of your vision, this could also be a sign of damage to the retina.
- Eye pain. The retina itself has no pain-sensing nerve endings, so retinal damage often doesn’t produce pain. However, other parts of the eye can sense pain. If you’re experiencing eye pain along with your floaters, this is a likely sign of a medical issue with the eye.
If you experience any of these signs with your floaters, it’s a good idea to seek medical attention as quickly as you can. Treatment can often help to save your vision, but the earlier you receive the proper treatment, the better your visual outcome is likely to be.
Carlsbad CA eye doctor
Most of the time, eye floaters are normal, and are not a sign of a serious issue with your eye. As long as you’re watching out for the signs of a more serious problem, you can safely ignore your floaters. They can be annoying, but they shouldn’t cause you any major concern.
Many serious problems with the eye (such as glaucoma) may not cause any symptoms until vision loss occurs. This is why regular visits to your eye doctor are so important. Regular screening can help to catch any eye problems early, when treatment is more likely to be effective at saving your vision. If it’s been a while since you visited an eye doctor, contact us to make an appointment with one of our eye experts.