Cause ?

[eternity]

Has anyone ever wondered what is the cause of floaters ? What do we all have in common ? Internet use ? Stress ? Guilt ? Do (did) you wear contact lenses ? Bauch & Lomb solution maybe ? Let's explore...

Before finding any solution, we have to find the cause. The medical community won't help. Trust me. They have higher interests.

[eternity]

Just adding something : my floaters appeared right after I put some solution my optometrist told me to use (sodium chloride = salt), fifteen minutes after the drops, my eye filled with blood. What was he thinking ? Salt contract water (the vitreous), so it pulled on the retina. Fortunatly, the floaters are almost all gone now. I was wondering, doesn't contact lenses saline solution do the same thing to the vitreous ? How come many people who have floaters are (or were contact lenses users) ?

How do you explain the ophtalmologist reactions all over the world. Them being so detached, so inhuman about this ? Anyone has a theory ?

[Larry]

Floaters have several causes. The most common is syneresis, the separation of liquid from gel caused by contraction. It's a process associated with aging. Another common cause is PVD (Post Vitreous Detachment) where the vitreous detaches from the retina as it shrinks. The type of floater that comes from a PVD is called a Weiss' Ring. Other causes could come from blood, and those floaters tend to simply dissolve in a short period of time.

The regular (mostly permanent) floaters are there because of the breakdown of hyaluronic acid that causes the vitreous fibrils to merge and bond together. Other floaters have been there since before birth and have drifted into the visual range because of syneresis.

I really don't believe stress or eye drops and such really play a role in any cause or cure.

As far as to why eye doctors are so negative towards floater sufferers is debatable. My opinion is that they encounter floater patients so often they get tired of dealing with them. As a result doctors don't relate to the patient but instead see them as a nuisance. If eye doctors could perform a simple procedure to reduce floaters then they would be eager to help.

[Moderator]

For me I think the factors involved would be stress, UV rays, allergy and perhaps Centrum multvitamins with Lutein. Those factors were all present when my floaters came early 2002.

[Frank]

I first noticed my floaters when I bouth new glasses and sunglasses. Couple of days before, I did a booster (http://www.booster-ride.com/booster/takearide.htm), but I have done that attraction (and extremer ones) A LOT without problems.

Last doctor I visited told me that floaters also can be toxic waist that your eye filters out of the retina. Talking about new theories ...

"Something" can produce floaters ... coming from a depression, your retina, your liver, ...
I don't believe crap like: "your floaters were always there, the moved to a place so that you see them all the time".

[ade]

The last eye dude I went to see said a similar thing - "you're probably just noticing them now because of all the bright light (we'd had a couple of weeks of particularly nice weather), the may have shifted from somewhere else, they have probably always been there". Hmmmmmmmmmm, blatantly not, I accept that I may have had a couple of extremely minor floaters (tiny transparent strands, couldn't see them unless I looked, and even then I sometimes couldn't find them) - but you know when there's a massive change like this - I've had a couple of bad days, been a bit depressed, feels like my eyes are dirty and I just want to clean them! It is incredibly depressing when you wake up in the morning and there they are, as soon as you open your eyes - have been finding it quite difficult to get motivated enough to get out of bed. Sorry to whine! It's just nobody else understands!

[Frank]

ade said:

It is incredibly depressing when you wake up in the morning and there they are, as soon as you open your eyes - have been finding it quite difficult to get motivated enough to get out of bed. Sorry to whine! It's just nobody else understands!

You're not whining. I know the feeling, and many others too. Everywhere you go ... you take your problems/floaters with you