5 Treatable Causes of Eye Floaters

Your eyes are complex organs filled with a variety of vital parts that make vision work overall, but believe it or not, around 80% of the total volume of your eyes is composed of one substance: the vitreous humor. This gel-like fluid substance maintains the shape of your eyes, helps keep vision clear, and keeps your retina in place.

Eye floaters are tiny particles that can move through the fluid in your eyes and, by themselves, are generally just a minor annoyance. However, they can also be symptomatic of underlying problems that require treatment. To find out more about why you’re experiencing floaters, let’s explore their causes and how we can care for them.

Dr. Jeffrey Rapkin and the experienced staff at Retina Consultants of Muncie help Muncie,  Indiana, residents with many eye conditions, including floaters.

What are eye floaters?

Also referred to by their scientific name, myodesopsias, eye floaters are shapes or dots that appear in your vision, often when looking at a clear sky or lightly colored objects like paper or a white wall. They usually look like squiggly lines, dots, or thread-shaped strands.

Floaters pass your macula, located in the center of your retina in the back of your eyes, which is how you see their shadows. They can also come with light flashes called photopsias, which you can experience separately from floaters.

What causes them?

The vitreous humor compresses as you age, leading it to pull away from the inside of the eyeball. The nontransparent clumps that form appear on your eyeball, and the shadows they cast form floaters. 

Other treatable conditions that cause floaters include:

1. Infections

Uveitis is a type of infection that affects the middle layer of your eyes and can cause floaters to develop.

2. Bleeding

Bleeding can occur as a complication of diabetes, specifically diabetic retinopathy. This condition creates weaker, abnormal blood vessels that can leak and bleed into the vitreous humor, causing streaks and spots in your line of vision.

3. Myopia

Nearsightedness develops from elongated eyeballs, and in that shape, the stretching puts stress on your retinas and your vitreous humor, increasing the risk of floaters.

4. Cataract surgery

Cataract surgery breaks up cataracts using sound waves. It can disrupt your retina and vitreous humor and lead to floaters.

5. Retinal tear

Another possible complication of diabetic retinopathy, though it can be caused by other conditions, is that any tears can leak fluid into the vitreous.

How are they treated?

Not all floaters require treatment, and many fade on their own over time. The question is whether something serious is causing them. Floaters may be a symptom of a condition that does require prompt attention, such as a retinal tear or vitreous hemorrhage. 

A retinal tear is of concern because it can allow fluid to enter and separate the retina from the underlying tissue, and diagnosing and treating it before it progresses to a retinal detachment can save your vision. Laser treatment or cryotherapy can close a retinal tear, while a detached retina requires surgical reattachment.

A vitreous hemorrhage (bleeding into the vitreous cavity of your eye) can also produce floaters. Because vitreous hemorrhage signals a serious underlying retinal condition, prompt evaluation is needed to protect your sight. In cases where the blood does not clear on its own, Dr. Rapkin may perform a vitrectomy to replace the vitreous with a medical solution, gas, or air.

Floaters generally pose no threat, but the underlying problems that can cause them may need treatment. To find out why you have floaters and protect your vision, make an appointment with Dr. Rapkin and Retina Consultants of Muncie today.