Eye Floaters: Causes, Symptoms and Treatment

Small spots of irregular shapes seen floating in our field of vision, especially when looking at a bright source, such as a clear blue sky or a white paper are identified as floaters.

Although eye floaters are not a grave matter, they indicate the presence of an underlying eye condition that could prove to be direful. Frequent appearances of unusual shapes call for immediate attention.

Our eye care team at Divyadrishti Eye Hospital, one of the top eye hospitals in Vijayanagara, Bengaluru, would assist you in receiving a genuine diagnosis of your eye health (general or otherwise) and take the right actions to improve it.

Types of eye floaters:

Eye floaters could be of various shapes, including:

• Rings
• Cobwebs
• Thread-like strands
• Squiggly lines
• Gray or black dots

Eye floaters could be a symptom preceding a number of eye problems. These include:

• Eye tumours
• Inflammation of the retina
• Inflammation of the vitreous
• Torn retina
• Detached retina
• Diabetic Retinopathy
• Trauma to the eye
• Crystal-like deposits in the vitreous

Causes of eye floaters:

In most cases, eye floaters occur with age. Eye floaters are small protein flecks (collagen) that are a part of the vitreous, a gel-like layer in the back of the eye. With age, the protein flecks in the vitreous start forming clumps as they begin to shrink and shred. Gradually, they form shadows in the retina which are named floaters.

Factors that increase the risk of eye floaters:

There are a number of factors that increase the risk of developing eye floaters. The usual ones are:

• Age– In most cases, people start seeing floaters in their vision as they age. If you are aged 50 and above, it’s important to take proper care of your eyes and visit an eye doctor every 6 months to lower the risk of complications.
  
  
• Eye injury – Sustaining a serious eye injury early or later in life increases the risk of eye floaters. If you have suffered an eye injury, make sure you get it properly treated by an eye doctor to lower the possibilities of eye floaters and infections.
  
  
• Refractive error– You stand at a higher risk of developing eye floaters if you have nearsightedness. Nearsightedness, also known as myopia, is a refractive error in which distant objects appear blurry while close objects appear clear.

If you are encountering difficulty in seeing distant objects with clarity, you may have myopia. Our eye doctor could carry out an accurate diagnosis of your refractive error through a simple refractive test and help you correct your vision, either through prescribed eyeglasses/contact lenses or through LASIK surgery.

Equipped with advanced technology, Divyadrishti Eye Hospital offers affordable eye treatments for cataract, corneal eye diseases, diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma and other eye disorders.

 5 reasons why dilated eye examinations are important

Top of Form

1. Eye exams help children succeed in school.

This one is for you parents. Did you know that 80 percent of what children are expected to learn in and outside the classroom requires good vision? It’s true — and that statistic, which has been around for a long time, probably should be revised upward because of the ever-increasing amount of screen time children are exposed to these days.

An annual eye exam is the only way to ensure your child is seeing clearly and comfortably to succeed in the classroom. It’s also the only way to know for sure if children are seeing their best for sports and other activities, too.

2. Myopia is becoming an epidemic.

After a detailed eye exam, your eye doctor will discuss the findings and offer treatment options best suited to your needs.

The number of children who are developing myopia (nearsightedness) is growing faster than ever. And more children are getting nearsighted at a very early age.

Why is this a big concern?

Children who become nearsighted very early in life tend to experience a worsening and progression of nearsightedness that continues throughout childhood — and this puts them at a significantly greater risk of very serious and potentially sight-threatening eye conditions later in life, including Cataracts, Glaucoma and Retinal Detachment.

Scheduling annual eye exams is the best way to assess your child’s risk of myopia. When detected early, myopia control measures can be taken to slow the progression of myopia and reduce your child’s risk of serious eye problems later in life.

3. Vision screenings are no substitute for an eye exam.

Too often, parents are led to believe their child is seeing perfectly well because she passed a school vision screening. Or adults think they see perfectly because they pass a vision screening at the motor vehicle department. Frequently, neither of these assumptions are correct.

Vision screenings are just that — they screen out individuals who have serious (and usually quite obvious) vision problems. Screenings can identify apparent problems a person might have with specific visual tasks, such as seeing a chalkboard clearly in the classroom or recognizing road signs and other objects from behind the wheel.

Only a detailed eye exam by an Ophthalmologist can ensure your vision is as clear and comfortable as possible — and that you’re free from potentially serious eye diseases that don’t have obvious early symptoms, including Glaucoma and even eye cancer.

4. Glaucoma.

Children’s eye exams are important to ensure normal vision development and check for myopia.

We’ve mentioned glaucoma twice already. So let’s dig into it a little deeper…

Of all serious eye diseases, Glaucoma is probably the sneakiest. That’s because there are no discernable symptoms in most cases of early glaucoma — nothing to alert you that something’s going wrong.

People who fail to have routine detailed eye exams and develop glaucoma typically become aware of it only after they’ve sustained permanent vision loss from the disease. And by that time, controlling glaucoma to prevent additional vision loss can be very difficult. Without successful control with medical treatment and/or Glaucoma Surgery, the disease can lead to blindness.

Early detection of high eye pressure and other risk factors for glaucoma is possible only with routine eye exams. Vision screenings do little to nothing to identify or prevent glaucoma.

5. Annual detailed eye Checkups can detect other serious health problems :

Did you know that many people first learn they have serious health conditions such as Diabetes, High Blood Pressure, High Cholesterol and even Cancer from — yes, you guessed it — a routine eye exam.

Our eyes have been called “the window to body.” It turns out, they also are often a very effective window to our overall health.

During a comprehensive eye exam, your eye doctor can observe and evaluate the health and condition of the blood vessels in the retina, which are a good predictor of the health of blood vessels throughout your body. Conditions such as Diabetes, Hypertension and Hypercholesterolemia all are visible by changes in the appearance of the retinal blood supply and blood vessels.

Annual eye exams are especially important for anyone with Diabetes or who might be at risk for the disease (due to Obesity, Family History or other reasons). More than 10% of Indians suffering from diabetes and are at risk for developing diabetic eye disease, the leading cause of blindness among adults. In its early stages, diabetic eye disease has no visible symptoms; only a dilated eye exam can detect signs of the disease so treatment can begin soon enough to prevent vision loss.

Don’t put it off — schedule an eye exam today

Even if you think you have perfect vision, an annual eye exam can be one of the best things you can do to protect the overall health and wellness of you and your loved ones.

Don’t put if off any longer — contact an eye doctor  for an eye exam today.

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