Eye Floaters and Flashes

These are tiny clumps of gel in the vitreous, the clear jelly-like fluid that fills the back chamber in your eye. This vitreous detachment is often accompanied by photopsia or light flashes. Most people may have seen floaters in the eye, especially when looking at a piece of paper or the blue sky.

The human eyeball is made up of an inner part, which contains a clear material called the vitreous. This jelly-like material, made up of proteins in our eye, is responsible for the round shape of the eye. However, as we start aging, the vitreous starts shrinking and thickening.

This causes the microscopic fibers attached to the retina and lining the inner part of the eye to pull away from the interior surface of the eye. These fibers, in turn, tend to clump together and form debris or particles, which float around within the vitreous cavity of the eye.

So each time light rays enter the eye and hit the particles, a shadow is created on the retina, which is perceived as spots in front of the eye along with crescent-shaped flashes.

The primary cause of eye floaters and flashes is aging and the degeneration of the vitreous due to it. This causes the thickening of the collagen fibers within the vitreous, thus, resulting in eye floaters. Also called posterior vitreous detachment (PVD) or posterior vitreous separation, eye floaters due to aging may afflict any person who is over 50 or who are nearsighted.

In addition to the retinal detachments caused by aging, floaters in the eye can also be the direct result of infections or inflammation of the eye.

Any trauma to the eye, central vein occlusion, blood diseases, or diabetic retinopathy causes vitreous hemorrhage can cause eye floaters.

Sometimes eye surgeries such as the cataract surgery or YAG laser eye surgery can cause the flashes and the appearance of the specks in your line of vision.

Other causes include Cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis, tumors in the eye, toxoplasmosis of the eye, and diseases like tuberculosis, sarcoidosis, migraines, and syphilis.

A sudden onset of eye floaters may take on different forms. While some look like small dots, dark, transparent or knobby specs, veils and transparent strings, or cobweb-like materials that float within your field of vision. These are painless and often subside without any intervention.

People may also observe arc-shaped or "o"-shaped flashes of light, especially, when they have migraine. While normal symptoms of eye floaters are not something that we need to worry about, a loss of the central or field of vision may warrant some treatment measures.

Normal cases of eye floaters do not require a treatment. However, in certain cases the floaters can be so dense and numerous that they significantly affect the vision. In these cases, a surgical procedure known as vitrectomy may be needed to remove the floaters from obstructing the field of vision.

However, it is important to keep in mind that the surgery is prone to complications, such as retinal detachment, cataract, and incomplete removal of floaters. Retinal tears can be corrected with laser eye surgery. Other treatment measures include injection of drugs into the eye, topical eye drops, and oral medications.

If you are riddled with problems of densely packed eye floaters that hinder your field of vision, then it is best to consult an ophthalmologist or an optometrist as soon as possible.

Disclaimer: This story is for informative purposes only, and should not be treated as a substitute for professional medical advice.