Eye floaters in children

[nygrl]

I just posted a question about my own eye, now i have one about my daughter's...She's 10 and has glasses (maybe -4 rx). I have had a retinal tear in my 30s. She just told me that she sees these little spots in her eyes when she's outside and its very bright and they "kinda swirl around" when she looks around. I am panicking.. From what I read children rarely get floaters.  She also was telling me this morning that her eyelid feels like its sticking when she blinks. I didn't think much of that, figured I would worry about it if it wasn't better tomorrow but this floater thing is really concerning me. She says that she hasn't been hit in the eye or anything. Tomorrow's her last day of school before we move out of state and I don't want to take her out and have her miss it. Is it abnormal for her to have floaters, should I panic, can it wait a day to see a Dr or is it an emergency? Please help.

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

There was a recent study that showed it might be helpful but the majority of studies indicate it is not helpful in permanently reducing or preventing the progression of myopia.
JC  MD

[nygrl]

I asked her lots of questions about her vision and she has had no other symptoms that concern me.   If the floaters were the debris from her embryonic blood vessels, would she suddenly start seeing them? It sounds like she has several of them that all appeared at once, which apparently was about a week ago, but they have not changed since then.  I, luckily, and feeling much better this morning. My eye is just barely irritated and vision is better. My eyelid is swollen, but I guess that is from all the tugging and rubbing to try to get the particle out of my eye, so I won't be visiting my ophthalmologist again and cannot ask about my daughter. I assume I should still make an appt in the next few days for her to see someone?

I wanted to ask you, Dr. Hagan, your opinion on orthokeratology...My daughter started has been using corneal molds for about a year now.  The reason we chose to do this was because our entire family has bad vision, and retina problems run in our family.  I did a lot of reading and this was the only option that I could find that might slow her progressing myopia.  Are you a believer in this type of therapy?  I would not normally choose allow a child to wear contacts but if it could prevent very serious problems in the future, I felt it was worth trying. Your thoughts?

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

Floaters in children are not rare, especially if myopic. Perhaps 10% of children might be able to see floaters. Often floaters in a child are not the same as an adult and can represent debris left from embryonic blood vessels that once bridged the vitreous space.

If she has flashes of light, any loss of field of vision, severe trauma to eye or sees showers of floaters (like soot in eye) she should go in for an exam. You will likely need to see your ophthalmologist tomorrow anyway for your own problem ask him about her at that time also.

JCH MD