A tiny speck in a wide and vast universe may not seem a big problem but a tiny speck in your vision can cause difficulties for daily activities. You often find your vision interfered with a dot, spot, line or shape that floats in the eye and appear as distant objects.
However, these are cells and fibers inside your eye. Commonly known as eye floaters, they specifically become a concern when they are accompanied by flashes of light, a sign for a retinal detachment.
Causes of Eye Floaters and Eye Flashes
The gap between retina and lens is filled by a gel like substance known as vitreous humor. Beside proper moisture, this gel helps maintaining the shape of the eye. It contains 99% of water with elements like hyaluronic acid and collagen. As a person ages, this network often breaks down releasing trapped water molecules. Pieces of collagen and hyaluronic acid float around in the fluid causing a shadow on the eye whenever light passes through them. These are known as eye floaters. During the movement, it may attaches itself to retina and pulls it over, a condition that trigger eye flashes. The phenomenon is known as retinal detachment. The other causes of the floating bodies in the eyes include inflammation in the eye, Laceration or retinal trauma, hemorrhage, diabetic retinopathy, Swelling of the eye, and traumatic injury in the eye
Symptoms of Eye Floaters and Eye Flashes
- Usually look like wicks that disappear almost immediately.
- Usually wisp-like shapes that go away almost immediately
- Visible flashes and streaks of light.
- It can be a gust in one sector or several in a large sector.
- May be one burst in one area, or several over a wide area
- Stains that are most visible when you look at clear background, lie a blue sky or a white wall
Possible Prevention
(This article is for informational purposes only. Please consult your doctor.)
Eye floaters can be prevented by maintaining the well-being of your eyes. The good practices include a healthy and nutritious diet, relaxation time for eyes, using digital products with proper precautions, and taking regular breaks to avoid strain to your eyes. The eyes can be protected from producing unfriendly floaters by maintaining a healthy weight, wearing sunglasses, blue light glasses and vision glasses whenever needed.
Possible Treatment
(This article is for informational purposes only. Please consult your doctor.)
Often, the eye floaters are not really the cause of concern. With time and movement of eye, they settled down at the bottom, clearing the visual pathways of a person. When the condition worsen, such as appearance of light flashes that indicate retinal detachment, one must consult with the eye professionals. In serious circumstances, a professional may ask you to seek surgical procedure. It is only relevant when the floaters become thick and dense and vitrectomy is the only option left. In vitrectomy, the vitreous humor is replaced by saline solution to make eye function more properly. Sometimes, another procedure, laser vitreolysis is used to break large floaters and dissolve them with the help of lasers.
Eye is a sensitive part and any change in the health of the eye should not be taken lightly. A person must consult the physician to avoid any serious injury or loss of vision.