Bizarre Cause of Floaters?

I am 26 years old, highly myopic wearing -7.00 prescriptions on both eyes. I've had a minor case of floaters since I was in my late teens, didn't bother me back then, they wouldn't be visible unless I really tried to look at them.

But then back in October of 2010, I started getting paranoid about my floaters. I basically started staring at them a lot, almost everyday for a month, straining my eyes making them heavy and painful at times.

As a result, now I see them in every bright surface, not just a blank surface, they all started appearing gradually within a span of a few months. Currently, they are noticeable in any daylight situation or bright places like outside, effecting my ability to drive. They often appear when I refocus my eyes in terms of distance.The type of floaters I see are the clear worm/stringy types and cell types, and they are currently still getting larger and more numerous. Some side effects that came with seeing floaters is:

sensitivity to light, quick small white/black flashes, seeing moving streaks of light when my eyes are strained, eyes feels constantly heavy and stiff when I try to move them, can easily see little fast moving "white bugs" when bright outside without trying, long after images. The most strange one is when it's bright, and I shift my eyes, a huge mass of shadow moves up my eyes like smoke and disappears, eye lashes maybe?

Specific floaters to point out is I have a static floater that stays in place with a few cells attached to it, no end no start horizontal, on my left eye, it floats and stops above the center of my vision. Moreover, floating string and cell floaters mostly reside on my right eye from what I noticed. All these weren't present prior to October.

I went to an ophthalmologist back at the end of December 2010, and he didn't seem to find anything wrong with me, saying the floaters are "benign" and didn't mention anything about PVD, saying that I do have a higher risk of retinal pathology with my myopia. I am going to another recommended ophthalmologist in August 2011 (trying to move it earlier but failed) to get a second opinion as to what is going on with me.

I thought I'd share my concern to see if anyone might have a similar experience or knowledge as to what might be going on with me so I am more prepared when seeing this doctor. Or maybe get an idea to prevent it from getting worse. Psychological issue? focusing issue? undetected PVD? how are floaters created for high myopic people? how can floaters form fast within a span of a few months?

p.s. I already made doctor appointments and are waiting for it, so no need to mention it. In the mean time I just want to learn a bit more about this condition of mine here. Thanks for reading!

[Ray T Oyakawa, MD]

High myope have a higher incidence of floaters.  There is not much you can do about it.  You should see an ophthalmologist (preferably a retinal specialist) if you see a change in floater, flashes or change in peripheral vision.

Dr. O.

[jkl88]

Thanks for replying,

I am definitely waiting for my ophthalmologist appointment to double check that there is nothing wrong inside my eye. I am just hoping this doesn't get worse simply by looking at them more, since this rush of floaters suddenly happened within a span of a couple of months.