What Are Eye Floaters? Plus Symptoms, Causes And Treatment

The term eye floater refers to deposits found in the vitreous body of the eye, which is the gel-like material covering the back of the eyeball. The vitreous may liquefy and bunch together to form tiny strings or balls. Individuals say eye floaters when they experience specks, lines, and spots, floating into their vision when looking at a blank surface. For most individuals, eye floaters are a minor inconvenience and aren't much of a cause for concern, but in rare cases patients find they cause a significant disruption to their vision.

Symptoms

The vitreous of the eye is clear, which allows light to enter the retina easily, resulting in vision. Moving the head while experiencing eye floaters causes the bunched pieces to move and sometimes cast a shadow on the retina, which explains why eye floaters occasionally affect vision.

Eye floaters are also described as eye spots, black spots, strings, cobwebs, or specks. If the eye floaters appear as lines, they can be thin, thick, or even squiggly. They shift as the eyes do, though they do not follow this movement exactly and may still drift, particularly when the eyes are still.

Patterns And Appearance

Eye floaters occur at random in one or both eyes, and the density and pattern may vary within each eye as well as over time. Unfortunately, eye floaters do not disappear completely once noticed, but they can settle out of the patient's field of vision. Alternatively, the patient can adapt to their presence, and their brain will thus begin to filter them out. Eye floater patterns differ among patients as some may only see one or two, whereas others can see hundreds. An increase of floaters accompanied by flashes of light is a medical emergency and should receive medical attention immediately.