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Floaters (1 Viewer)

nousername

Supporting Actor
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May 26, 2001
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Anyone else got 'em? You know, those things in your eyes that float around when you look at the sky, for example. When you try to look at them directly, they sometimes dart away.
I've got several of them, and I've had them ever since I can remember...
 

Philip_G

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Yes, doesn't everyone? Sometimes I just chill out and watch them :D
don't confuse the floaters with autokenesis, where if you stare at a light in the dark (say a star) it appears to move.
 

Jeff_Krueger

Stunt Coordinator
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Aug 5, 2000
Messages
122
Yes, I never noticed them until someone posted about the same thing awhile back. Odd how you can be totaly oblivious to something but once it is pointed out to you, it is impossible to ignore. Though I don't seem to have too many thankfully as I only notice them infrequently.
 

Adil M

Supporting Actor
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Nov 21, 2001
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Guys guys... don't worry I was told the answer to this by a female I once knew in high school. Those things you see moving around are oxygen molecules and you can only see them when you really focus...
 

Carl Johnson

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The female who can focus on oxygen molecules is either a blonde or from the planet Krypton:)
 

John Watson

Screenwriter
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Wierd, because I was thinking about this as a post recently.
The most aggravating part of it for me, is I like birdwatching, and it really is difficult sometimes to to find a bird against a clear blue sky, or white cloud, when contending with those damn floaters
Very common, and get a bit worse as we get older...
BTW, I understand that it is bad to press our eyeballs to see stars, as most of us do when we are kids. At least we were told not to look at the sun.
:)
 

StephenA

Screenwriter
Joined
Nov 30, 2001
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I don't get floaters, but do get this thing where my eye clouds up sometimes. I have no idea what it is, and when itch my eye, it goes away.
 

KyleS

Screenwriter
Joined
Jul 24, 2000
Messages
1,232
I also have them and I believe that I read once that everyone has them its just a matter of how many and how large they are... Dont know the truth to it. Do we have any Optomologists on here that can shed some light?

KyleS
 

Keith Mickunas

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I once read that the floaters are remnants of a blood vessel that was used during the development of the eye, or something similar to that. I only have them in one eye, so far as I know.
 

Tom-G

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I was the one who posted about floaters last year. I was really concerned about them and thought they might by symptomatic of a larger problem. I was checked by two different opthamolgists rs and both told me the same thing: there is nothing to worry about. That's not to say that everyone who has them shouldn't worry, rather it's saying that floaters are normal.

As we age, the vitreous fluid becomes less gelatinous and more water-like. This causes the fibers to pull loose from the retina and the debris causes those annoying black dots a.k.a. "floaters."

Seeing a few floaters is normal, but if there is a sudden increase it could mean that your retina is detaching (which would require surgery).
 

Dennis Nicholls

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My eye doctor checked me out several years ago when I first saw them. He said everyone gets them after age 40. They are sort of a piece of skin that comes off from where the optic nerve comes into the retina. Think of them as dandruff in your optic fluid.
 

Jay H

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The real question is what do they look like? Kind of like the child's game of seeing shapes in clouds, I ask the important question:

What do you see in your floaters?

I have a little in my left eye, I think it might be a spider... Maybe that explains my fascination with spiders??


Jay
 

Tom-G

Screenwriter
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Jay, they aren't uniform in appearance, but most of them appear as tiny specks. They can also appear look just like trails of smoke.

When I first noticed the floaters, I thought there was a flea or some other tiny critter flying past my face. I actually swatted at it, but I soon realized it was something wrong with me.

I have 20/20 vision, so the good thing is floaters aren't indicative of eye sight that is deteriorating.
 

John Thomas

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Mar 23, 2000
Messages
2,634
I just flush again, they'll usually go down then.
Oh.
(Ok, this was a thread fart; one of my first ;))
 

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