Eye Floaters Cause & Treatment

Eye floaters are small black or gray specks drifting around when eyes move. They can also look like strings or cobwebs. They are most noticeable when you are looking at something plain and bright like a white wall or the sky. Most people will experience floaters in their eyes.

Symptoms

• Symptoms include seeing dark specks or clear strings moving across your field of vision. These specks and strings move as your eyes move, but move out of sight when you try to look directly at them.

Causes

• Eye floaters are usually caused by age-related changes in the vitreous, a jelly-like substance in the eyeballs. The vitreous changes cause debris to block light passing through the eye and cast shadows on the retina.

Risks

• Risk factors for eye floaters include eye inflammation, nearsightedness, diabetic retinopathy, complications from cataract surgery and being over age 40.

Treatment

• When there are so many eye floaters that they interfere with vision it might be necessary to surgically treat the problem. But eye floaters don't usually require treatment.

Medical Help

• Contact an eye specialist when the amount of eye floaters increases suddenly and significantly. The eye floater increase could signal a retinal tear, which could cause vision loss.