Floaters after eye dilation

[kukulski]

The day after getting an eye dilation exam, I noticed a large cobweb floater in one of my eyes.  I didn't connect the two at first until I realized it happened consistently.  I now have large cobweb floaters in both of my eyes that keep getting bigger with each exam ... it's been about 8 years since my first dilation exam and they are not getting any better.  Has anyone heard of this before?  My eye doctors recommend that I keep getting the exams but I'm worried.

[Joolayn]

Hello people, hello Dr Hagan
I read about 50% the posts here and i know this "it can't be a coincidence"-talk, but i still wanna state what I experienced:
The first floater in my left eye i noticed after I slept under the sun. I woke up since the sun was hiting my eyes pretty direct and it hurt. The next floater appeared when i looked into a magnesium burning, wich I tried to do "indirect" but didn't work out well. All concidences so far? Okai let's go to my newest floater which i only have for 4 days now. I went to an examination at the doctor without the drops to widen my pupil. Anyway, the doctor still looked into my eyes with a bright hurting light. I couldn't see for about 15s before my vision came back. And right that evening my newest floater was there, in my right eye, which never had any floater so far. You can call this a coincidence, but with your denial, Dr Hagan, you only cause me to never visit an eye doctor again, for fear of more eye floaters. My eye floaters are black and i am almost getting dizzy from them. I can also say the one i had for 15 years never got bigger, darker, lighter. So i am pretty sure my new floaters won't get "better" which just increases my fear to a huge extent. Yes i don't think it's the drops, but the bright light pretty sure, as i read a whole bunch of experiences from people either looking into the sun, bright light or gotten an examination with bright light which had a direct following of floaters appearing. So instead of telling us to just accept so many coincidences, tell us something to ease our fear of eye doctors or floaters. P.S.: If the light hurts your eyes, shouldn't that be a warning that something gets damaged?

[6899townk]

my 11 year old just had his eyes dilated yesterday and today is getting black area in his peripheral vision and blurry spots.  NEVER had any of this prior to yesterdays test!!!

[owenjones]

I am 21 years old and I developed noticeable floaters for the first time after an eye exam pertaining to an unrelated issue. My eyes were dilated, numbed, and examined with bright lights that left an after-image long after the exam was finished. Several days later, large floaters in the form of dots appeared. They were annoying, but I could live with them.

I went back for a follow up visit several weeks later and the same procedures were done, minus the numbing of my eyes. The next day, my floaters became MUCH worse. In addition to the initial spots, I can now see cobwebs, lines, and smaller spots 24/7, unless I am in low light conditions. I am seeing a retina specialist tomorrow, but barring a pending retinal detachment, I imagine that these symptoms are a result of my eyes being disturbed by either the bright lights, the dilation, or a combination of everything. Hopefully they will decrease over time...my quality of life has suffered.

[Srijak]

I had my eye eyes dialated 2 weeks ago.i have never noticed floaters before. Immediately when my dialation wore off, i started noticing like web like floater in my right eye and small spots floaters in my left eye.i can see them indors also. I am not able to ignore them at all. I worried about them

[Kekes523]

How are things now?

[JTuttle]

I see the doctors stating eye exams and dilation drops do not cause floaters.  I would like to see the actual study done confirming this. Also, testing differences between light eye people and brown eyed people.  

If no study has been done, than how can you 100% say floaters are not also caused by eye exams/dilation drops?

Please understand from our point of view.  I am under 35 and and never had floaters until after my first eye exam 2 years ago.  Going to a recent eye exam 2 years later, being tested through all the machines and dilation drops, I had new specs and floaters develop within a week in my other eye.  How can I call this a coincidence? its happened twice now, and the second time pretty much confirmed it there has to be some sort of link.

[Joolayn]

I am with you. But actually i am thinking of getting someone to start such a study. Although i am only a small laboratory technician, if I can just get one of my acquaintance to start it, we might get smarter in the next few years and help people to understand and maybe prevent further floaters.

[Betonaster]

It is more than the floaters.  It is the push to get pupils dilated as quickly as possible so as not to hold up the practice; it is that no formal training of the technicians is required; no insistence on having a driver; lack of reading the patient medical history prior to exams - worsened by system-wide electronic medical records; pain in the eyes; the bulging sensation... there is more.  It was caused by one or more components of the eye exam, whether an M.D. was involved, or not.

[JTuttle]

"Eye Strain" also causes floaters.  Having said that, shining bright lights in your eyes, and those other tests you get done in the ophthalmologist's office logically would cause strain on the eyes, thus causing floaters. Since the eyes are dilated, it is letting all that light in your eye. That can't be good for the eyes.  Your pupils are made to constrict with light not stay dilated.  Common sense would tell you this is putting a great amount of strain on the eyes.  There is a machine you look into that flashes bright lights and it hurts along with other machines. I wish I knew the names of them all.  This has to be connected and its not just because of "age".   More research needs to be done with these tests and dilation drops causing floaters to prove they cause them.