What Causes “Eye Floaters?”
For those who’ve never experienced the phenomenon of “eye floaters”, they are little oddly
shaped objects that appear in your vision, often when one looks at bright light such
as a blue sky.
Their shapes vary greatly, but will often appear as spots, cobwebs, or randomly shaped
stringy objects.
These are not optical illusions, but rather something your eyes are actually perceiving.
There are a few different things that can cause this, but in most cases these eye floaters
are caused by pieces of the gel-like vitreous breaking off from the back portion of your
eye and then floating about in your eye ball.
The vitreous humor, or often just “vitreous”, is a clear gel that fills the gap between
your retina and lens, helping maintain the round shape of your eye in the process.
This gel is about 99% water and 1% other elements; the latter of which consists mostly of a network
of hyaluronic acid and collagen.
Hyaluronic acid ends up retaining water molecules.
Over time though, this network breaks down which results in the hyaluronic acid releasing
its trapped water molecules.
When this happens, it forms a watery core in your vitreous body.
As you age, pieces of the still gel-like collagen/hyaluronic acid network will break off and float around
in this watery center.
When light passes through this area, it creates a shadow on your retina.
This shadow is actually what you are seeing when you see the eye floaters.
Children and teenagers usually don’t experience these types of eye floaters as there must
first be some deterioration of the gel-like substance in their eye creating the watery
core for these floaters to appear.
However, they do still sometimes experience a certain type of eye floater that often appears
more like a crystallized web across their vision.
These floaters aren’t found in the vitreous humor like the aforementioned floaters.
Instead, they are found in the Premacular Bursa area, right on top of the retina.
These floaters are microscopic in size and only appear as big as they do because of their
proximity to the retina.
Unfortunately, their microscopic nature makes them almost impossible to treat in most cases.
Bonus Facts: • Interestingly, if the eye floaters would
just stay still instead of floating around, your brain would automatically tune them out
and you’d never consciously see them.
Your brain does this all the time with things both in and outside of your eyes.
One example of this inside your eye are blood vessels in the eye which obstruct light; because
they are fixed in location, relative to the retina, your brain tunes them out completely
and you don’t consciously perceive them.
The reason the floating specs never seem to stay still is because floaters, being suspended
in the vitreous humor, move when your eye moves.
So as you try to look at them, they will appear to drift with your eye movement.
• The reason you can see floaters better when looking at, for instance, a bright blue
sky, is because your pupils contract to a very small size, thus reducing the aperture,
which in turn makes floaters more apparent and focused.
• If you ever see a ton of floaters appear out of no where, possibly with some light
flashes, you should get to an eye doctor immediately.
There is a chance (1 in 7) that your retina is about to detach from the back of your eye.
If that happens, you have very little time to get it fixed before it effectively dies
and you go blind in that eye.
• “Light flashes” not caused by actual light, also known as photopsia, will often
occur when the photoreceptors in the retina receive stimulation from being touched or
from being torn.
This produces an electrical impulse to your brain, which your brain more or less interprets
as a light flash.
This physical stimulation is often caused when traction is being applied while the vitreous
detachment is taking place.
The flashes should subside when the vitreous finally detaches.
These flashes will also often temporarily occur when you get a sharp blow to the head.
The sudden jarring causes pressure on the retina; this in turn creates an electrical
impulse to the brain which the brain interprets as a flash.
Yet another potential cause of these flashes is with migraine headaches.
• Surgeries do exist for getting rid of eye floaters, if they seriously hamper your
vision.
This is typically done by replacing the gel-like substance in your eye with a saline liquid.