What Are Those Spots In Front Of My Eyes?!

They're kinda like little bugs flying around, except there are no bugs there! Lots and lots of little spots in front of your eyes all of a sudden, and it seems like they are always RIGHT in front of your vision when you are trying to read. Or it feels like there's a spot just outside your field of view--is that the bug? You just can't shoo it away.





They're floaters!

Wait...what the heck's a floater, anyway? Well, a floater is a little speck of protein debris in the vitreous jelly, the jell that fills up the middle of the eye. The vitreous jelly (you may have heard it called vitreous humor in school) is very important for the development of the eye until we're about 2 years old. After that point it's really just there to cause mischief. One of the mischievious things it does is shrink.

The thing that make the vitreous a gel is the same thing that makes Jello a gel. There's a microscopic protein skeleton and as we get older that skeleton collapses upon itself. Little areas that used to be just barely microscopic are now just dense enough to be macroscopic. They form a little clump and VOILA...a floater.

So you've got floaters, what do you do about them? In time your brain will learn to ignore them. They become like background visual noise and your brain just ignores them, just like the old fashion elevator operator who didn't hear the elevator music any more because it was always there!

For some more information check out this Eyemaginations video here. If you DO have floaters make sure to get them evaluated at Skyvsion Centers.

I Have Flashing Lights And I See Bugs!

 One of the most common symptoms patients share with us usually go something like this: "HELP! I'm seeing black things flying around in front of me and no one else can see them." Or "there's lightening in my house!" Flashing lights and dark floaters are things that bring patients in to see us every day.

The most common cause of "Flashes and Floaters" is changes in the vitreous jelly, the jell that fills the center of the eye. The vitreous is very important for the development of the eye until we reach the age of 2. After that it's just there to cause mischief! One of the mischievious things it does is shrink. In the beginning stages of this shrinking the microcsopic protein skeleton that makes the vitreous a jell collapses on itself and you get bits of protein debris...FLOATERS!

In time the vitreous shrinks to the point where it starts to separate from the inside of the eye. When this happens the vitreous tugs on the retina. It doesn't matter what you do to the retina it will give off a sensation of light. So, when the vitreous contracts and puts some pulling on the retina you get a FLASH!

The danger, of course, is that when the vitreous pulls itself off the retina it can take a piece of the retina with it, causing a hole or a tear. That's why it's important to call your Skyvision Centers eye doctor and come in for a visit if you have new FLASHES AND FLOATERS!