More eye floaters...?

Hi, I'm a 27 year old female, and in September I started seeing some floaters in both eyes. I went and had a comprehensive eye exam and the doctor said my gel just detached totally in one eye and was almost detached in the other, allowing me to see the floaters. She said they were harmless in my case and they were nothing to worry about. She said she herself has hundreds of floaters and that her son's eyes did the same thing even at the young age of six. She said all I have to do is get a comprehensive exam once a year. It's now about 2 mos. later and I am seeing more of the floaters, not a TON but a noticable amount, I wonder if I need to go be checked out again? I haven't seen any bright flashes and my peripheral vision is excellent. I started seeing the extra floaters when I was out of town for work. It seems to me like they came up right after a very rough, 4 hour van ride. Should I worry? and is it possible that rough activity "shakes up" more floaters?

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Information on floaters:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floater

Floaters don't dissolve. If they become "invisible" they generally drop to the bottom or the eye or swing out of sight off to the side.

Floaters increase with age. There is no way to prevent floaters from developingl. There is no medication that dissolves floaaters although a few worthless homeopathic nostrums are sold over the web for that purpose.

JCH III MD

[10dollar]

Doctor,

It would be great to get a nice comprehensive take on floaters from you. I looked through the archives, and there is not really a good summary of floater issues.

In particular, what I am interested in, is the "life-cycle" of a floater. After they become apparent, what happens next, and what are some possible timeframes. I have developed floaters in the past few months, mostly stringy ones which the doctor said are normal collagen floaters (no PVD as described above). What happens to these distracted floaters - do they reattach, sink, get dissolved, all of the above, no one knows?

Is there anything we can do to prevent more floaters from being created as well?

10dollar

[10dollar]

One more thing,

Happy Thanksgiving Doctors! You guys are a great resource for information and comfort for lots of peoples comfort. If you ever have a computer problem you can contact me and I'll see if I can provide the same level of help back!

Have a peaceful holiday.

10dollar

[dgpretzel]

I saw this thread on floaters, and got to wondering...

Has it ever been tried, perhaps in animal experiments, to filter floaters out of the vitreous humor?  I'm thinking that if they are actually physical pieces of something, couldn't you remove the VH, filter it, and then put it back?

DG

[John C Hagan]

Too expensive, too dangerous, too many side effects.

JCH III MD

[spyplaneU52]

Hi, I am a 20 year old male and had PRK done back in March. Over the summer, or around the 3, 4 and 5 month marks post operation, my eyesight seemed fine. I started noticing floaters in my eyes around 6 months. I have not seen any flashes of light at all, yet these floaters can be quite annoying at times. Also, I think I am seeing starbursts a bit more often now. I can temporarily "fix" the starbursts by looking into a bright light and then looking away, but they seem to come back after my pupils dilate again. I was wondering if the floaters and the starbursts were related and if this problem could heal itself over the next few months. Thank you very much.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

you could have developed a residual refractive erro like a low grade astigmatism or myopia. I would return to the refractive surgeon to discuss the problem, the exam should include a refraction. If its due tot he size of the pupil you could talk about a trial of Alphagan.

JCH III MD