Have you ever felt unshaped random objects floating across your field of vision? You may think that they are some kind of germs floating around outside your eyes or on your eye lens. These are known as eye floaters in medical terms. They can be light, dark, or white in colour, and appear as shadowy figures that float away as you try to focus on them. They may appear as specks, strings, or cobwebs that move along the path as you traverse your eyes left and right or up and down.
Eye floaters can be a very common symptom of ageing. There is a gel-like sac in the middle region of your eyes that is held in place by protein and collagen fibers. As you age, these supporting structures may be weaken, which may ultimately shrink and become ribbon-like structures. When we are born, the vitreous has a gel-like consistency, but as we age, it begins to dissolve and liquefy, thus creating a watery center. Some undissolved gel particles float around in the more liquid center of the vitreous, taking up various shapes and sizes, which we call as eye floaters.
While eye floaters could seem as a normal eye issue, remember it could even be a symptom of something dangerous and unexpected! Eye injuries or eye tumours may also cause this issue as your vitreous gel like sac may shrink. Also, diabetic eye disease, hypertensive retinopathy, and torn retina may be other conditions causing these floaters. This is why as soon as you start seeing these small germ-like structures floating in front of your eyes, you know that it is time to visit an eye specialist in Mumbai, who can help perform comprehensive eye exams to determine whether your eye floaters are a normal ageing process or something deceiving.
Although eye floaters aren’t harmful, they can definitely become frustrating. You may start blinking your eyes more frequently, or may rub your eyes, assuming that this will have the floaters move away. But, all of it in vain! The eye floaters are still there, waiting to bother you even more. Thus, you may want to have them eliminated through a certain treatment procedure, especially when they are huge in size or number, and are compromising your vision.
Vitrectomy is a procedure used to eliminate eye floaters if they are significantly restricting vision, which is a surgery performed on the eyes to remove the shrunken vitreous body and its remnants, thus reducing the number of eye floaters. Following this, a laser device will be used to break up the remaining floating debris, ultimately resulting in better visual clarity.
If you have inflammation of the eye, nearsightedness, diabetes, or have undergone cataract surgery, you are at higher probability to bring upon this issue. So, be on the lookout for such disturbing objects in front of your eyes, and if you do, have an immediate eye consultation in Andheri West Mumbai at Arohi Eye Hospital. Here, you can get specialist eye care with modern and technologically advanced facilities, and dedication of highly experienced doctors and staff that has made the hospital stand out since the past 8 years!
Dr. Shradha Goel
Dr. Shradha Goel, Chief Surgeon at Arohi Eye Hospital, is a renowned Phaco-LASIK surgeon with over 10,000 surgeries to her credit. She earned her MBBS from Grant Medical College, Mumbai, and a Master’s in Ophthalmology from Kasturba Medical College, Manipal. As a member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, Dr. Goel specialises in LASIK, refractive errors, and cataract treatments.