Most older adults – around 70 percent – have experienced squiggly lines and wispy eye “floaters” that obscure that impact their vision.
This increasingly happens as people age, due to changes inside the eyes. Most times are harmless. Unless, of course, they are a sign that something is very wrong.
Typically, a jelly-like fluid called vitreous helps the eye keep its shape and provides nutrients to the eye. It liquifies as we grow older and the body reabsorbs the fluid. After that, what’s leftover in the eye can clump together, casting tiny shadows on the retina – and creating the sensation.
But experts warn that age isn’t the only reason these floaters occur. Sometimes they can be a sign of disease or a retinal condition – especially when combined with flashes of light.
“If you have floaters plus flashes and a loss of side vision, it’s an urgent matter and you need to see an eye specialist or go to the emergency room immediately,” Dr. Joseph Newman, an ophthalmologist and retinal specialist on the medical staff at Baylor Scott & White Medical Center – Temple, said in a statement.
In the worst cases, floaters can be caused by bleeding in the eye, signaling a complication of diabetes that damages blood vessels in the retina or an inflammatory disease such as uveitis. Uveitis is inflammation in the middle layer of tissue in the eye wall that can result in permanent vision loss.
Bleeding can also be an indicator that the retina – a sensitive area lining the back of the eye that detects light – has suffered a tear or detached from its position on the eye.
Tears can happen when the vitreous gel breaks down, tugging on the retina
“This pulling can lead to a retinal tear, which requires laser surgery to correct,” Nebraska Medicine ophthalmologist Dr. Ivey Thornton says. “An untreated retinal tear may also lead to a retinal detachment.”
In some cases, a rare defect in the central part of the retina known as the macula may be the cause. Macular holes can also lead to a loss of vision without treatment, according to the National institutes of Health.
Floaters may even be a sign of a tumor, the Cleveland Clinic stated. Eye melanoma is a kind of eye cancer that causes the floaters, a change in the shape of the pupil, a growing dark spot in the iris and poor vision, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Some people are more at risk for floaters than others, including people over the age of 50, nearsighted individuals, people with a family history of retina problems and people who have had uveitis.
The same is true for people who have experienced head trauma, people who have had cataract surgery, people with diabetes and people who have had eye injuries.
There is no at-home treatment for floaters, but a short-term fix is to quickly move the eyes up and down to shift the fluid in the eyes, health insurance provider HealthPartners suggested.
For larger or denser floaters that can impact vision more – the ring-shaped ones, for example – there’s a surgery called a vitrectomy that can remove the vitreous and replace the fluid in the eye with a salt solution. There are some risks to that procedure, such as infection, excess bleeding, high eye pressure, a new retinal detachment, an increased rate of cataracts and problems with eye movement, Johns Hopkins Medicine noted.
People who are younger than 50 and experience persistent floaters should see a doctor, as well as people experiencing floaters with obscured vision, eye pain, blurred vision or redness.
“Floaters that appear red could indicate bleeding inside the eye, which is another indication for urgent evaluation,” Dr. Claire Fraser, an ophthalmologist at UK Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, cautioned.
But for most people, there’s just not a lot to worry about with floaters.
“Probably 99 percent of the time, floaters are no big deal,” Dr. Newman said. “Retinal detachment is 1 in 10,000 cases, and macular holes are close to that.”
