floaters in the eyes

I had a torn retina which became apparent when I had a sudden rash of floaters - like a shoal of fish going by - and arcs of light round the sides of my eye. Very quickly mended with laser - brilliant!

If you just have a few floaters sitting there, then I think it is nothing to worry about. More common in short-sighted people I was told.

I experienced floaters like a curtain coming down over my right eye. There were a lot of them, not just the odd speck. At first I put it down to the dust from the building work we were having done but then began to notice that one eye seemed to see things darker than the other one. Again, at first, I put this down to darker mornings. Then I started to notice a 'bite' out of faces on the TV. I went to the optician who did a thorough examination and referred me to the local hospital eye clinic. To my surprise, I was called in the next day and seen by a consultant. he magnified the eye and showed me what looked like the Grand Canyon in the middle of my eye. The macula had started to separate and I had a macular hole in that eye. He explained it was actually only a pin prick but I needed surgery to repair it asap or I risked losing my central vision. I was then passed onto the consultant eye surgeon who operated on me within five weeks and saved my sight. One downside of this operation is that it accelerates cataracts forming and I had that eye done last year. Eyesight now very good. Also, it does not look like the left eye will copy the right one as eyes often do. Please note that a macular hole is different from macular degeneration. So, please pester your optician if you see many floaters, darker vision in that eye, missing bits of words or images and wavy lines. After my experience I am much more careful of my sight than I had been before. I am also very, very grateful we have an NHS and that I live in the 21st Century.

The annoying thing about floaters is that they always seem to float down over where you want to read! I agree though, a bit like that other irritant tinnitus, ignore all you can and the impact is less.

I had a tear in the retina 20 years ago, and a threatened retinal detachment and was fitted in for emergency treatment within an hour at the local Eye Hospital.

Now, thanks to the state of our NHS, the local Eye Hospital is closed and the nearest one is 25 miles away and your wait for an appointment is 2-3 months. If my retinal tear had been nowadays I’d have lost the sight in that eye.

However I’ve now become canny and know that opticians are the way to go. Good opticians with up to date equipment can dectect all these conditions and if anything untoward is detected you can use the information to get an immediate appointment.

Our NHS is not as ‘wonderful’ as it was and it’s getting less wonderful every day.

The optician sent me to the local eye clinic after a thorough examination of the back of my eye by him and another optician. The consultant says she thinks i have the start of glaucoma as well as floaters and a cataracts. I have to wait for an appointment now to go for further test on my optic nerves to verify if it is glaucoma or not.Inthe mean time the cataracts are not ready to be removed just yet and the floaters i have to live with. The good news was that there are no tears or holes on the retina.Plus of course our wonderful NHS fitting me in for an emergency check without an appointment at the hospital.

I had floaters in one eye which I ignored for a while thinking it was just part and parcel of ageing. until they got so bad I decided to go and see the Optician . She detected a retinal tear and sent me to the local eye casualty department. I had the tear lasered and was told how fortunate I was I didn't leave it much longer as would have gone on to be a total retinal detachment which is much more difficulty to fix. I now tell everyone to get their floaters checked out to be on the safe side.

Floaters suddenly appeared in on eye about 15 years ago. At first thought it was some hair, kept trying to brush it away. Found them so very annoying, but nothing to be done, and soon enough my brain just coped with them and I forgot all about them. Indeed, to even see them now, I have to deliberately concentrate on looking for them. Yes, they are still there - bit no annoyance.
My optician gave me a letter to drop in at my GP when he felt my cataracts did need doing.
Someone described cataracts as being like tomatoes, long time under=ripe and the very suddenly ripens.
As mine would have soon affected my ability to continue having a driving licence I did have them done.
Fine now for driving - but for the first time in my life I now need glasses for reading.

I have got an appointment at the opticians tomorrow afternoon.Fingers crossed it is just ' floaters' and nothing else going wrong.

If you have a bit of your vision which is affected with just black bits always in the same place have you eyes checked as it could be glaucoma . These bits do not move at all like floaters do and are far more dense . I am told they will only treat my cataracts in the left eye as a last resort because of glaucoma in the right .

LiveandLearn

About your cataracts travelsafar, both the GP or the optician can refer you to a hospital. I think it depends whether they are bad enough to affect your daily life - driving, or reading for example.

When I was about 6 or 7 my aunt had a detached retina. Back then in the 50's they couldn't do much for her so she lost the sight in that eye and spent the rest of her life worrying the sight would go in her other eye (it never did and she died at 78 still with her sight). She always complained about floaters and how annoying they were - I guess with only one eye they probably seemed more intrusive. However she was always told they were harmless so when I've experienced them I've just ignored them. Not so the wavy lines I started to see - thankfully my optician realised this was a serious problem so sent me to see a specialist resulting in a laser procedure for a raised blood vessel.

All eye problems should be checked out just to be on the safe side.

I sympathise. I've had floaters all my adult life. I developed quite a big one a couple of years ago and dashed to the optician, who said it was nothing to worry about. It drove me mad for a few months, but I got used to it and it has broken down over time. I sometimes play 'ping-pong' with it across my vision - if anyone were to see me doing this they would think I'm crazy

The doctor at the eye clinic told me the last time I went that there is no ‘ripe’ time for a cataract - they can be done at any stage. Mine is affecting my sight only occasionally but he is talking about taking it out within the year as it is obscuring their view of my optic nerve - they did think I might be developing glaucoma, but having been to the eye clinic for about 8/9 years and comparing the photos and scans etc, they have decided that I do not have glaucoma developing but have a congenital difference in my optic nerves. They now start taking photos of the eyes at an earlier age so will have a much longer period of photographs to compare.

I have had one for the first time, it appeared a few months ago and is like a very small bothersome fly, in fact at first I was trying to wave it away as I thought it really was an insect.Reading that floaters are harmless ( unless you suddenly get a lot) and that the brain adjusts so you don’t really notice it, have just left it, and lo and behold I hardly notice it any more, although sunglasses help when out and about.

I hope my putting up another thread will be viewed as being helpful rather than instructive but 'floaters' come up as question from time to time.

www.gransnet.com/forums/health/1244738-PVD-Posterior-Vitreous-Detachment

Certainly not saying PVD is the problem , rather pointing out it might be worth going for a proper eye test to discount it.

I have started having the occasional one recently, like a spider! What is actually worse for me, when reading, is what I can only describe as looking through my eyelashes. Fine when I look up, but blurred when I look down again. My eyes water a lot too, which doesn’t help.
I have been assured by my optician that there is nothing wrong.
I do have the beginnings of cataracts but was told they will probably take ten years before they need removing. Meanwhile to wear sunglasses, avoid bright sun, which I do anyway.

I have lots of floaters in one eye that really interfere with my vision, especially when reading. I also had a cataract developing in it which wasn't helping. So I decided to get my cataract done sooner rather than later (had to pay for it as the NHS wouldn't have done it yet), and that has helped a little but the floaters are all still there of course.

There really is nothing that can be done for floaters - I think there is an op but it is very tricky and not to be recommended.

Another one whom has had these darn "floaters" for years.
At first they were a real concern,starting in just the one eye, therefore a visit to the Optician assured me that there really were no danger, just another of those things added to the list of "happenings" as you grow older!
So when they appeared in the second eye I simply got on with life,ignoring and or accepting them.

In fact learning to live with them over the years has certainly lessened their impact, and nowadays, quite honestly,I am rarely annoyed by them.

Hope that gives you some hope travelsofar.

I ve had floaters all my life, some big uns too Your brain actually gets used to them but of course then new ones start I try my best to ignore them and for the most part it works, at nighttime I lie and make shapes with them often sends me off to sleep
I ve had the net curtains and flashing lights and had my retinas ‘sewn together’ as the consultant said ‘ like darning a pair of old socks
My only advice like all annoyances in life is make friends with your enemies and/or concentrate on other things they will disappear into obscurity whilst you are managing to ignore them once you start recognising them you are drawn towards them and see them more and more ( bit like a irritating person really)

My husband has just had this and been to the eye specialist.
He has a flat eye now which affects his vision in the upper part of his vision.
If you get little ‘stars’ in your eyes or a grey mist, as OldMeg says go straight to A&E

Symptoms include a sudden or gradual increase in either the number of floaters, which are little “cobwebs” or specks that float about in your field of vision, and/or light flashes in the eye. Another symptom is the appearance of a curtain over the field of vision. A retinal detachment is a medical emergency.

Not much you can do about them sadly and they are definitely worse in summer.

However, if they suddenly worsen and you get like a grey mist coming down then seek help immediately. This can be a symptom of a detaching retina.

Sympathise with the floaters, travelsafar. Annoying aren’t they? I find avoiding very bright light and using sunglasses helps. My optician said he would recommend cataract surgery before it impacted driving safety. Not sure if that helps. Maybe ask your optician for their view? If worried then I think I’d start with my optician.