Floaters

[Erlend]

Lately I've been getting a lot of them in my right eye. It's very annoying cause I have a couple of dark ones dancing around the center of my vision, making it hard to concentrate on the computer or enjoy being outside.

Any chance they will go away, move or anything?
Gets my mind a little off the tinnitus, but really it just adds to the depressive state that I'm in...

 

[Markku]

I don't think they usually go away.

I got my first floaters at the age of 15, and they have increased in size and number since then.

Nowadays I have so many floaters that I have contemplated undergoing vitrectomy, replacing the vitreous with a saline solution.

It's not a 100% safe operation. Cataract formation (the most common consequence of the operation), retinal detachment, infection are among the risks.

I'm also highly myopic. Nice to have both hearing and eye problems... Not.

There's a great forum discussing floaters here: Degenerative Vitreous Community Forums

I actually was a member of that forum before I created Tinnitus Talk - and before I got tinnitus myself.

I remember many Tinnitus Talk members have floaters. Search for "floaters" and you'll get plenty of results.

A dedicated thread for this subject is appropriate to have, though.

 

[Erlend]

Damn.

 

[Hopeful]

I have a bunch. Had them since I was a child. Never got worse. Hardly ever notice them anymore. Don't annoy me at all. I find them funny to play with sometimes.

 

[erik]

I have them regularly too. Never notice them until I had T. Maybe I am OCD about these kind of things since T.

They are kinda of like tinnitus in the way if you notice them, then you really do but if you are not paying attention to them, it is like they were never there.

 

[Markku]

I think it really, really depends on the type and amount of the floaters.

e.g., the above picture Erlend posted, is in my book a mild case.

I have so many that I can't count the number of them, mine are opaque, and of all different sorts; dots, lines, cobwebs.

When you have these many as I do, they are a hazard to health, for example sometimes when I'm driving a floater will distract me from what's happening (when it comes from the side of the vision, it's easy to mistake it for a moving object, etc.).

We have several months of snow in Finland each year, and oh my gosh, the white snow is the worst. White snow on a sunny day - there's nothing worse, even though the sky and websites with white background do compete.

But still, I cope with them, and I like knowing that a vitrectomy is an option if it gets totally unbearable. Yet I'm still hoping they'll find a less invasive/risky way to fix the problem.

Unlike tinnitus, for which there really is no treatment yet...

 

[erik]

I am sure mine is mild. Glad there is a treatment option though there are risks. But then again there are risks with almost every treatment

 

[Jake]

I have them too, @Erlend. I forgot I had them until you brought it up. You just get used to them. I guess floaters are similar to T in that regard haha

 

[SarahR]

I have them too, although I barely ever notice them. Mainly when I do it's outside with a bright blue sky or when I'm looking at a computer screen.

 

[Erlend]

I've always had them, but in a matter of 3 weeks or so it's gotten A LOT worse.

I too think it has a lot to do with being paranoid. One day I was constantly distracted by seeing my own nose lol.

This is what T has done to me!!

 

[Markku]

One day I was constantly distracted by seeing my own nose lol.

This is what T has done to me!!

Coincidentally, a couple of days ago I chatted with a friend of mine and this nose thing came up.

If only the tinnitus could be ignored as often and as easily as seeing the nose!

 

[frohike]

Any chance they will go away, move or anything?

I had one 10 years ago. I went to the doctor, he told me I was right, it went away on its own. Back at the time I was spending the whole day looking at a CRT screen. LCD is a blessing.

 

[gary]

I've always had them, but in a matter of 3 weeks or so it's gotten A LOT worse.

I too think it has a lot to do with being paranoid. One day I was constantly distracted by seeing my own nose lol.

This is what T has done to me!!

I have floaters, they are the clear ones, I do not have the black areas.
As for being aware of your nose, I had that when I was having anxiety and panic attacks. I also would look at my hand and notice it like my nose. These are anxiety symptoms, likely brought on by T

 

[Lulubug69]

I've got them too. I've gotten more the older I get. I'm 50. Doctor Said to let them know if they get bothersome. Too risky to me to do anything. I don't have great vision as is it. Don't want to risk it. They are most noticeable in sunshine.

 

[t-man]

I've had floaters for years, as far back as my later teens. I had laser surgery once to have them removed. They came back. Many, in fact.

Frankly, they don't bother me. They seem so insignificant compared to tinnitus.

I have them regularly too. Never notice them until I had T. Maybe I am OCD about these kind of things since T.

They are kinda of like tinnitus in the way if you notice them, then you really do but if you are not paying attention to them, it is like they were never there.

Tinnitus rings in my head twenty-four hours a day. Floaters only exist when my eyes are open.

If tinnitus would shut up for eight hours a night, I wouldn't be bitching about it.

 

[yonkapin]

I've had a couple in my right eye for a few years now.

 

[Relic Hunter]

I think most people have floaters to some degree. We just become used to them..I started having floaters like cobwebs in one eye this year after coming off of Klonopin after taking it for several years..Did not know at the time that they could have been caused by the K. They have since cleared up thank goodness

 

[Champ]

I've had them on and off. Floaty bastards.

And yeah tinnitus definitely more of a "thing" to me than these guys... I just see past 'em.

 

[Meestijn]

I'm have them too. I believe we are all blessed with oversensitive brain networks or something alike

 

[vickilynn]

Lately I've been getting a lot of them in my right eye. It's very annoying cause I have a couple of dark ones dancing around the center of my vision, making it hard to concentrate on the computer or enjoy being outside.

View attachment 368

Any chance they will go away, move or anything?
Gets my mind a little off the tinnitus, but really it just adds to the depressive state that I'm in...

I've got some floaters. Don't notice them most of the time. Some of them are really weird looking. They don't seem to be real dark though.

 

[vickilynn]

I have floaters, they are the clear ones, I do not have the black areas.
As for being aware of your nose, I had that when I was having anxiety and panic attacks. I also would look at my hand and notice it like my nose. These are anxiety symptoms, likely brought on by T

That's it. Mine seem to be clear with like a light pencil color outline.

 

[gary]

That's it. Mine seem to be clear with like a light pencil color outline.

Yep, Vicki you described it perfectly. Eye Dr. said there was not much they can do for mine. Comes with age, in my case. I am 66...

 

[vickilynn]

Yep, Vicki you described it perfectly. Eye Dr. said there was not much they can do for mine. Comes with age, in my case. I am 66...

I didn't know there was anything at all that could be done about them. I figure you just have to live with it. I'm 58. They don't really bother me that much. The tinnitus bothers me more than that though it's not that horrible either.

 

[gary]

Glad to hear your tinnitus is not that horrible. You may be better at handling tinnitus than others.

 

[meeruf]

I have it to some degree in the winter when it is snow outside. Never thought of it tho. Think it is quite normal.

 

[Hattukoira]

Yes I can see those but they never really bother me.

Visual snow - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Blue field entoptic phenomenon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I can also see these, but same as floaters they don't bother me at all anymore. However I was a worried when I first started to notice these things.

 

[Erlend]

Is it possible that I am able to feel that they come into existence? In my right eye (where 98% of them are), I can feel a sort of.. "poke" or, yeah, I don't know what to call it, but I feel a little poke inside me eyeball. This was two hours ago, and now the "main" floater is bigger and a lot more visible/disabling.

Whenever I look up to my monitor from my keyboard, a big dark-grey floater bounces up straight into the MIDDLE of my vision, with precide percision, it actually covers the letter I am looking at and it makes it really hard to concentrate (as if T isn't enough........)

The risk of the operation is huge and I don't want to do that, but does anybody know, is this operation getting safer and safer? Or will the risks be the same in 10 years?

 

[Markku]

Yes I can see those but they never really bother me.

Visual snow - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Blue field entoptic phenomenon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I can also see these, but same as floaters they don't bother me at all anymore. However I was a worried when I first started to notice these things.

I also experience both of these. The floaters annoy me more though than the visual snow and the blue field entoptic phenomenon. This is pretty much me exactly: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Blue_field_entoptic_phenomenon_animation.gif

The risk of the operation is huge and I don't want to do that, but does anybody know, is this operation getting safer and safer? Or will the risks be the same in 10 years?

Yes, probably. It has already become a bit safer in the past few years. Nowadays they have the "sutureless small-gauge vitrectomy", and as far as I know the risks are fewer than, say, 10 years ago.

Small gauge vitrectomy: Recent update. [Oman J Ophthalmol. 2013] - PubMed - NCBI

I believe the technology will advance and it'll be much safer 10 years from now.

 

[attheedgeofscience]

Is it possible that I am able to feel that they come into existence? In my right eye (where 98% of them are), I can feel a sort of.. "poke" or, yeah, I don't know what to call it, but I feel a little poke inside me eyeball. This was two hours ago, and now the "main" floater is bigger and a lot more visible/disabling.

Whenever I look up to my monitor from my keyboard, a big dark-grey floater bounces up straight into the MIDDLE of my vision, with precide percision, it actually covers the letter I am looking at and it makes it really hard to concentrate (as if T isn't enough........)

The risk of the operation is huge and I don't want to do that, but does anybody know, is this operation getting safer and safer? Or will the risks be the same in 10 years?

One morning, about 2 months before I developed tinnitus, I woke up with eye floaters. Educated myself on the matter via the Internet and made an appointment with an eye doctor in Berlin. Now, when it comes to eye floaters, eye doctors are as useless as ENTs are for tinnitus. I therefore got up in the middle of the consultation and left the doctor's office because I didn't want to listen to any more of her nonsense (which I told her). She recommended a vitrectomy! Booked myself an appointment with an eye doctor (in Holland) who specializes in eye floaters (and their removal using YAG lasers):

Oogartsen

Went to Holland and the specialist there diagnosed me with so-called micro-floaters. These are so small that they can't be seen with the naked eye - which means that the only reason why I notice them, is because they are right next to the retina. It is therefore considered a risky procedure to remove them with laser therapy. But, if I really wanted to have them removed, he would do it. The cost for a removal is EUR 1000,- (and it includes follow-up laser therapy, x 3, if I remember correctly).

 

[Valentin]

I also have floaters in both eyes a lot of them, actually i think i see through them...

my vision in my right eye is also brighter than my left eye, i also have visual snow and i can see ray of lights like a camera in a movie.

And the last thing is at night, light is going out of the object, exemple i see the moon perfectly round but the light is going out of the circle of the moon, of course my right eye pushes the light to top right and the left eye pushes the light to the bottom left.

i also have a scar on my right eye like a 'z', got my eyes checked, brain aswell nothing unusual.

i have a very good vision and all these things don't bother me at all....