You may have probably seen specks looking like clouds moving in your field of vision, especially when you look towards a bright background direction. As you change the focus of your view they move along with your eyes (not exactly, but in a way). Those things are called floaters. While these objects look like they are in front of your eye, they are actually floating inside it.
EYE FLOATERS, WHAT ARE THEY?
Eye floaters are deposits of various size, shape, consistency, refractive index, and motility within the eye, which is normally transparent, and moves randomly in one's direction of view.
Floaters are tiny clusters of cells or fleck of protein (collagen) lodged within the vitreous humour of the eye. The vitreous humour is the stable gel which supports and fills the posterior two-thirds of the eyeball, between the lens and the retina.
The vitreous humour provides a pathway for light coming into the eye through the lens. The vitreous connects to the retina, the patch of light-sensitive cells along the back of the eye that captures images and sends them to the brain via the optic nerve. What you see isn’t actually the floater itself, but the shadow it casts onto the retina.
Like fingerprints, no two people have exactly identical patterns of eye floaters. If a person has eye floaters in both eyes, the pattern of the eye floaters in each eye will be different. In any eye that has eye floaters, that pattern of eye floaters may also change over time.
WHAT CAUSES EYE FLOATERS?
Eye floaters may be caused by:
* AGE-RELATED EYE CHANGES: Eye floaters most commonly occur as a result of age-related changes in the vitreous humour. Over time, the vitreous changes in consistency and partially liquefies — a process that causes it to shrink and pull away from the interior surface of the eyeball. As the vitreous shrinks and sags, it clumps up and gets stringy. Bits of this debris block some of the light passing through the eye, casting tiny shadows on your retina. This mostly occur between ages 50 and 75, and especially in people who are very nearsighted or have had cataract surgery.
* INFLAMMATION IN THE BACK OF THE EYE: Posterior uveitis is inflammation in the layers of the uvea in the back of the eye. Posterior uveitis, which can cause eye floaters, may be caused by infection or inflammatory diseases, among other causes.
* BLEEDING IN THE EYE: Vitreous hemorrhage is bleeding into the eye's jelly-like vitreous. Bleeding in the eye can have many causes, including injury and blood vessel problems.
* TORN RETINA: Retinal tears can occur when a sagging vitreous tugs on the retina with enough force to tear it. A retinal tear may cause new floaters to appear in your vision. Without treatment, retinal tear may lead to retinal detachment — an accumulation of fluid behind the retina that causes it to separate from the back of your eye. Untreated retinal detachment can cause permanent vision loss.
For more information on eye floaters read SIGNS, SYMPTOMS AND TREATMENT OF EYE FLOATERS.
REFERENCES
WIKIPEDIA
NHS Choices
MAYOCLINIC
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