EYE FLOATERS, ANYONE?

Have you ever heard of the term “eye floaters”? No, they are not related to the arm floaters we use for swimming. Nor are they related to fishing or boating. In fact, the term eye floater is actually a medical condition of our eyes.

To check if you have eye floaters, you can look and stare at a blank piece of paper (white or light blue would be perfect) and test if you see squiggly lines or wormy images floating about your field of vision. Do these figures look as if they are floating and following where you look? If you see something similar to this, then you probably have eye floaters.

Do not panic, though. Most cases of eye floaters are benign. Yes, most of them are harmless and painless. That is the good news. However, to be on the safe side, it is always best to consult with your trusted eye specialist. Other signs of eye floaters are “shadowy visions” or flashes of light that may last up to a few minutes.

The actual cause of eye floaters is the fact that as we age, the gel-like substances that surrounds our eyeballs tend to contract, shrink and pull away from the inner eyeball. Because of this shrinking and pulling, these gel-like substances bunch up together and form different shapes… Yes, they may be shaped like a worm, a cobweb, curvy lines or dots. Since they are all bunched up, they somehow block the light that our eye reflects and causes shadows. These shadows are in fact the floaters that we see.

Interesting enough, many people who suffer from eye floaters do not actually do anything about them. They let them be since the only problem they cause is the annoyance of having small shadowy specks impairing your perfect vision. Most doctors would even say it is not a high risk condition. But in rare and worse cases, some patients with eye floaters choose to have a kind of surgery. This surgery involves the attempt to remove the gel-like substance in our eyes and replace it with saltwater solution.