Floaters Specialist

What causes floaters in the eye?

Eye floaters can have a variety of causes that vary in severity. Common causes for floaters include:

• Aging
• Inflammation
• Bleeding
• Torn retina
• Eye medications
• Foreign objects

Your provider can help you determine if treatment is necessary in your case.

How can I tell if I have eye floaters?

Eye floaters can have many different appearances. In general, if you’re seeing floating shapes or spots in your vision, you likely have floaters. When you try to focus on them, they appear to dart away and out of focus. You might only see them when looking at a blank wall or piece of paper, or they may affect your vision regardless of what you’re looking at.

Can eye floaters be dangerous?

Eye floaters are usually harmless, but they can indicate a serious underlying condition. If you’re losing your peripheral vision alongside the presence of floaters, or if you’re also seeing unexplainable flashes of light, you should get your eyes checked immediately.

Some of the causes could include bleeding in the eye, a torn retina, inflammation in the back of the eye, and complications from eye surgeries and medications.

Are eye floaters treatable?

If you have an underlying condition causing your floaters, your provider will guide you on treating your condition. If your floaters don’t have an underlying condition but are the natural result of age, he can treat them with a laser.

With laser treatment, your provider aims a laser into your eye to disrupt the floaters and make them fragment into smaller, less noticeable pieces. There are some risks, but patients generally report an improvement in their vision after a laser treatment.

If the floaters in your eyes are distracting you, it may be time to seek treatment. Book an appointment online or over the phone with Ventura Eye Institute to learn more.