# What are all these tiny, translucent, curly things on my eye?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-all-these-tiny-translucent-curly-things-on-my-eye/292387>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 1, 2005, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-all-these-tiny-translucent-curly-things-on-my-eye/292387 "2005-03-01T03:34:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![SiouxChief](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@SiouxChief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SiouxChief)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-all-these-tiny-translucent-curly-things-on-my-eye/292387/1 "2005-03-01T03:34:03Z")

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If I focus my vision a certain way, I can see tiny, translucent, curly string-like things. They move back and forth with the movement of my eye. I can see them when I close my eyes, if there is enough light in the room. I don’t think it’s something on the surface of my eye because blinking has no impact.

They sort of look like clear pieces of fuzz, as seen through a microscope.

They don’t always look the same from day to day. Today, one of them is kind of bunch up into a “ball”, which is the first time I’ve seen that.

Most of the time I go for months without even noticing this, but it’s been on my mind all day today…What am I seeing? Is it common?

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**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-all-these-tiny-translucent-curly-things-on-my-eye/292387/2 "2005-03-01T03:36:52Z")

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Clumps of cells floating in the liquid inside your eyeball, commonly known as [Eye Floaters](http://www.allaboutvision.com/conditions/spotsfloats.htm).

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**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-all-these-tiny-translucent-curly-things-on-my-eye/292387/3 "2005-03-01T03:37:40Z")

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[Floaters?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_311.html)

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**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-all-these-tiny-translucent-curly-things-on-my-eye/292387/4 "2005-03-01T03:38:52Z")

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Cecil did a column on them once: [What are those threads that float in your field of vision?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_311.html)

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**Author:** ![SiouxChief](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@SiouxChief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SiouxChief)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-all-these-tiny-translucent-curly-things-on-my-eye/292387/5 "2005-03-01T03:54:03Z")

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Wow, thanks for the quick response!

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**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-all-these-tiny-translucent-curly-things-on-my-eye/292387/6 "2005-03-01T04:29:12Z")

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Oh good. Floaters. I was afraid it was the dreaded Eye Worms.

…there’s no such thing. But still creepy to think about.