Floaters – Specs and Shapes That Appear In The Eye

Floaters is the term given to various types of deposits that can in the vitreous humour. The technical name for seeing floaters is “myodesopsia”. Floaters can be of various sizes and shapes. They can appear as shadow like shapes. These can appear on their own or with several others. They can also appear as threads, cobweb like fragments, shapes that look like cells – either singular or in groups. There is a particular type of floater which is called Muscae volitantes (from the Latin, meaning ‘flying flies’) which are small spots as indicated by the name. These shapes do exist within the eye itself, they are not illusions. If you have floaters you will notice that they move when you move your eyes. They tend to drift slowly, and it is difficult to try and focus on them as they are, as mentioned, within the eye itself. When first seeing floaters they can become quite annoying if you try to focus on them. It is natural to try to look at them to understand them further, but they will follow the motion of the eye, at much annoyance. The best thing to do is relax and just acknowledge that they are there.

It is thought that floaters originate in the embryo. It is also thought that they come about because of some sort of degenerative changes within the vitreous humour or on the retina itself. Floaters are quite common and do not cause any serious problems.