Floaters: Help Me Understand Them

Hi. I just turned 40 and suddenly I started seeing a persistent floater
last week. It started as a spec flying around in front of my one eye.
I've noticed this spec for brief moments in the past but it alway
disappeared. Since the onset of the persistent floater last week, the
shape and clarity of it has changed in this short timeframe. Why? I
dont know. It began as a spec on 12/25. Now, it has evolved into a
larger spec with less clarity but with somewhat of a hair like thread
attached to it.

At first, I tried to think of causes.....I'd been sick for the last
three weeks with a hacking persistent cough (unusual for this long for
me) and it finally subsided after coughing my "eyeballs" out for a
while. I also started a vigorous exersize program of running just this
year. This consists of a whole lot of "stomps" as I run, maybe shaking
my eyes or brain around too much. hehehe. I also have chewed sugarless
gum for 6 years straight since I gave up smoking...alot of the
gum....where the main ingredient is sorbitol. I remember reading just
about a year ago on Wikipedia that Sorbitol can affect the cells of the
eye. I'm really interested in knowing more about what exactly Sorbitol
does to your vision, and what "cells" they refer to. I'm awfully
suspicious about this being a cause.

Anyway, I go to my Eye M.D. at a prestigious well known local medical
group. They dialate my own affected eye and teh pupil enlarges. I start
to see blurry in that eye and the floater is almost not apparent
anymore. The M.D. does the checkup and finds the floater. Retina and
Optic nerve are in excellent condition. When the pupils go back to
normal the floater is back.

This is really bothering me. It's annoying as I do computer work all
day. When I look at people it's like I have a built in black dot laser
pointer floating in their face. It's stupid. I want to completely
elimate it even though I understand that they are permanant. I'm not
sure as to all I read how my brain will get used to them, or how they
could ever float out of the line of sight.

Here is now how I intend to solve this issue: by understanding it
fully, then applying solutions based on that understanding. I learned
in this short week that when my pupils are more dialated, the floater
is less apparent. In a darker room, it's non-existent. In the sun, it's
even there when I close my eye, My goal is to find a way to elimate
bright light into my eyes at all or most of the time. I will seek to
determine if prescription sunglases (the ones that change
automatically) are something for me to consider. Even while working
indoors on the computer I would wear them.

Why my pupil size would eliminate or increase a floater's visibility is
beyond me, but it does.

Another thing I heard is to train one eye to read instead of the
floater eye. I dont know if my brain is strong enough to do that, but
it's worth some practice.

Anyone with a story of how they cured or ignored their floater to the
point of near invisibility is what I'd love to hear.

I also read that there may be special glasses that help elimate the
floater. Maybe a darker glass on one eye. That would stink but if it
resolves then I'd be very happy. Just can't live well with this.

 

It's not a good idea to wear dark sunglasses for computer work.

When the pupil is dialated, you lose focus in the near vision. Hence,
floaters become less noticeable.

The only way to eliminate floaters is to have vitrectomy, which is a major
eye surgery. No retina surgeon would perform vitrectomy to eliminate
floaters unless they significantly blocked the patient's vision.

You have to live with it. Unfortunately, as you age, you are likely to get
more floaters. I have several floaters. They used to bother me, but not any
more.

 

He specified changeable lenses, like photogrey or Transitions, which are
fine for computer work.

That is not the reason, as floaters are always more or less in focus to
the same extent, regardless of pupil size. The reason he notices them
less in the dark is they are formed by (strong) light casting shadows on
the retina. Less light, less noticeable floaters.

An interesting idea. I see no reason he couldn't try that if they
bothered him enough. Just take an old pair of glasses and have a lab
tint one lens for you (the one with the worst floaters).

w.stacy, o.d.

 

Thanks for the info. Ok this is a little bit Sci-Fi, but here goes.....

Yes, I was thinking that maybe some genius MD would invent special
glasses that would eliminate the light that causes the floater. You say
it's from shadows cast by light on the retina. Well, how about a pair
of glasses that would somehow artifically mirror the floater on the
lens on your glasses, with the intelligence to follow it on your
eyeglass lens as it moves in your eye. The exact shape and size of the
floater would be molded for you from a retina scan and some type of
computer/laser measuring/shaping technology used by the doc. The
floating spec on the eyeglass lens would block the light to the part of
the retina that allows the shadow to be cast to produce the floater,
thereby supressing it' visibility.

 

W. Tracy wrote in a galaxy far far away...

Your reply is true under normal circumstances. However, the original poster was curious about why his floater was less noticeable after his pupil had been dialated **with drops by the eye doc.** After a dialated fundus exam, one's near vision is unfocused and blurry. Thus, despite more light coming into the eye and casting the shadow on the retina, one cannot see floaters clearly.

 

Kind of like that sound neutralizing stuff? No such technology exists,
but I'm sure someday, someone will do something like that.

 

Fidelis K wrote:

4 However, the original

No, the floaters will be quite visible against a well lit featureless
background with his eyes fully dilated and cyclopleged. They are
positioned quite close to the retina, so focusing is not an issue at
all. They would only be out of focus if they were located anteriorly,
near the front of the eye.

w.stacy, o.d.