Eye floaters - anyone else have these?

[Marg's Man]

Marg probably covered this, but just a warning. A sudden onset of lots of floaters, or a sudden increase in floaters can signal an impending retinal detachment.

GN she did. As we understand matters floaters are a normal part of the development of the eye. The number you have and how much of a nuisance they are is quite variable and need not mean anything nasty.

What CAN be nasty and MUST be checked immediately is sudden changes in either numbers or appearance of the floaters that are 'normal' for you. I stress the normal for you bit here.

Marg has always had some floaters as have I. What sent us to the ED (when we s-o-o-o-o did not want to be there) was the fact that she had a sudden change over a matter of minutes from her normal situation of a few clear floaters to a large number of brown floaters accompanied by flashes of light.

It was the sudden change of state that made an emergency of the whole thing, although the flashes of light were also a big worry. The flashes have resolved for the moment, she is being watched by a good eye doctor but the floaters are still there in their now increased numbers - she tells me they fading slowly in colour (I'm sure she will correct me if I have this bit wrong).

Marg's Man

 

[graceupongrace]

Well, it could be worse. Today I heard a news story on the radio about a man who had a worm living behind his eye and eating the retina. His doctor killed the worm with a laser.

 

[Marguerite]

Sounds like a nematode of some sort. Yuk! The laser target shooting sounds novel. I would be concerned about a possible immunological reaction to the dead worm, setting up a localised inflammatory response and further damaging the vision. But there's not a lot of options under those circumstances. If you go in with a needle to syringe it out, you risk even more damage.

Marg