I have always had persistent mild floaters in my eyes, especially the right, but over the past few months, it has become more annoying. In my right eye floaters will return to the same area of vision, and will not go away except with by a vigorous shaking of the head. For a few minutes. After which they will typically recur. It bothers me the most when I am working with my computer or reading.
Turning my eyes to the blue skies reveals a ton of tiny swimming floaters, which I am sure is not normal at all.
I was wondering if anyone here got rid of floaters for good or even semi-permanently without an invasive procedure. I am a bit chary of laser treatment, as it might endanger vision, but if you did it and willing to share the experience it might help me. TIA
There really isn’t much they can do non-invasively for floaters. A laser can be used in some instances as a treatment option, usually to break up big floaters but even then it doesn’t ‘get rid’ of them.
I’ve had a lot of floaters for many years. Like you, I just recently got a new one that sometimes floats near the fovea and is very annoying… I’ve talked to several ophthalmologists about them. There are really only two possible treatments, laser and vitrectomy. Laser apparently doesn’t work that well, and both of them have a risk of complications much worse than floaters. Unfortunately, it seems the most reasonable approach is to just live with them.
Once I had a bout of floaters that seemed worse than normal. I asked my ophthalmologist about it and he said, “Not to worry”. Two months later, the retina detached and that eye has not been the same since. I wonder whether a faster diagnosis would have improved the outcome.
Yes, a sudden appearance of many new floaters, or what looks like a “shower of sparks”, should be investigated immediately by an ophthalmologist. Sorry that your doctor failed you, Hari.
I was just talking to my parent’s neighbor about this at dinner last night.
He has something called “Posterior Vitreous Detachment,” which is a normal process of aging, and most people have zero or just mild symptoms, but sometimes the vitreous gel stays attached to the retina and pulls on it, and it’s this pulling that is causing the visual anomalies the OP is experiencing. If the retina tears, it can be fixed with a laser, but it needs to be done quickly after the tear or you could potentially lose sight in that eye.
(It came up because he and his wife were about to go on a long-planned trip to Peru, and because of the elevation there his doctor kiboshed the trip)
Hey, he can’t help what kind of floaters he sees!
The number of floaters has increased in my eyes over the years, I just assume that they are something that accumulate over time. It seems that under most circumstances, a vitrectomy to treat them is “like using a bazooka to kill roaches.”