Unidentified flying what? Healthy Living sees floaters

Floaters are common after you turn forty, and they are a normal part of the aging process. They are lines of lights in which patients say they see blurry visions. Most often the condition is benign, but can also lead to further complications that may cause loss of vision and require major surgery. Veteran Ophthalmologist, Doctor Amin Hegar, explains what happens inside the eye.

Marleni Cuellar, Reporting

Have you ever looked up at the blue skies and seen tiny spots or specks drifting in front of you? If you have, then it is possible that what you are seeing is a result of an eye condition called floaters.

Amin Hegar

Dr. Amin Hegar, Ophthalmologist

“Floaters, we have patients who come in every now and again and asking doctor I came here today because I started to see little objects are floating inside of my eye or in front of my eye.  Actually, what produces the floaters are clumps of cells or gel. The gel is a part of the eye that keeps the eye form. This vitreous gel, sometimes forms clumps of cells or gel and sometime also by the detachment of this vitreous from the retina which is the nervous layer of the eye, it detaches and you immediately start to see you know like the clumps or floaters, little particles like leaves all around.”

The development of floaters is actually a natural part of the aging process; and, while bothersome it can often be benign. Dr. Hegar explains that people still a have a good reason to worry.

Dr. Amin Hegar

“What happened is the vitreous is a membrane and it always attached to the back of the eye to the retina, and with age, with nearsightedness with infections of the vitreous inside the ye and trauma, this membrane of the vitreous detaches from the retina and when it pulls from the retina it starts to give flashes. It’s like when you’ve had an injury to the eye and you see stars.”

When floaters are accompanied by flashes; then it is definitely time to visit your ophthalmologist.

Dr. Amin Hegar

“If it is complicated with flashes, cause that could mean that the vitreous membrane is pulling from the retina and that could mean that we have to see if the retina has not been torn, if it has a tear then it needs immediately to be sent to a retinologist to do laser around that tear cause if that tear is expanded into a real retinal detachment then the vision the vision can be completely gone, and then will require major surgery of the retina.”

The floaters would typically start after the age of forty. Younger persons may be susceptible but mostly in the cases of trauma, near sightedness or a complication of eye surgery. In a few instances flashes alone can be contributed to migraines.

Dr. Amin Hegar

“There are some flashes that are not exactly flashes; they are just lights lines of lights. In which the patient say they are seeing blurry visions and so on. These are different from this floaters and flashes they are more spasms of the arteries in the retina. They are associated more with migraines”

Floaters do not permanently disrupt your vision and in most cases have a tendency to occur less and possibly disappear, depending on the root cause. Floaters alone are mostly benign, but if accompanied by flashes, it should definitely be checked out.

Dr. Amin Hegar

“This is a condition that can be treated by an ophthalmologist, not an optometrist, who as you know is the person who checks your vision and as my motto outside says: Check yearly see; see clearly.”