Floaters
EYE CARE DOCTOR
WHAT ARE FLOATERS?
Floaters occur when the vitreous, a gel-like substance that fills about 80 percent of the back of the eye and helps it maintain a round shape, slowly shrinks. Shrinking can be a normal ageing process of the eye. As the vitreous shrinks, it becomes stringy as scaffolding collapses, and the strands can cast tiny shadows on the retina. These are floaters. The mind interprets this as what it knows. Often patients describe cobweb, spiders insect, lashes and tree branches if they are large.
Do Floaters go away?
Over several months they can go away. Remember they are structural changes and the visual system does adapt floaters out eventually.
When to seek medical attention when you have floaters?
- When you experience floaters for the first time
- When you have altered vision or visual loss
- When you experience more floaters than usual
- When floaters are associated with lightning like sensation (photopsia)
Rarely vitreous floaters can be large and debilitating that they warrant surgery in the form of a vitrectomy. Your doctor will recommend this to you if you meet the criteria and pros and cons of having surgery explained.
Can young patients have floaters ?
Yes, vitreous can become stringy prematurely in myopia (shortsightedness). Patients who have had trauma, previous vitritis or uveitis, previous ocular surgery like cataracts or intravitreal injections can induce floaters.
Floaters can be associated with lightning sensation which is perceived in dim lighting and is caused by vitreous (the jelly like substance) tagging or pulling on the retina.
As mentioned earlier the presence of floaters can be physiological with advanced age or precede a retinal detachment in high risk patients.
Eye Specialist & Opthalamic Surgeon
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Dr Sineziwe Mulonga is an Ophthalmologist, a specialist eye surgeon for treatment of medical eye conditions, specialising in surgical and medical retina.
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