Black floaters in eye

[Elsiid]

Yesterday I suddenly got a couple of black floaters in my left eye and they're driving me nuts. I hoped a good sleep would help but they're still there today.

Does anyone else have this?

I have them too. Tiny black dots that I often mistake for a midge so can be seen swatting at nothing 🤪

I am only able to see in one eye due to ocular toxicara/plasmosis (they're not sure which as I'm showing antibodies for neither) so regularly see a consultant for my eye health and he's looked and said to just ignore the tiny ones. But any larger ones to get checked out as it could lead to retinal detachment. Which I have had before in my bad eye and almost in my good eye a few months ago but he lasered the tear. With a laser attached to his head.

If you are at higher risk of a retinal detachment then err on the side of caution. I had one due to a different 'I have generally fucked up eyes' issue and the surgery for a retina reattachment was a vitrectomy (removal of vitreous fluid), keyhole surgery to stitch and laser the retina back in place, replacement lens then a gas bubble put in to replace the vitreous fluid.

Lost loads of my central vision and now that eye is in the 'severely visually impaired' category.

Ended up with a Posterior Capsule Opacity which is like a cataract behind the plastic lens, so had to have laser to remove that, and a side effect of having the vitreous fluid removed is...........eye floaters which I just live with.

Underneaththeash is correct. A vitrectomy is a surgical procedure usually only intended for sight threatening conditions. Floaters in isolation are not considered a reason alone to carry out this invasive surgery. The risks of post surgery induced cataract and sight threatening retinal detachment amongst other things do not warrant this procedure for floaters , no matter how annoying the floaters are.
The risks of this procedure do not outweigh the advantages if used to solve floaters alone.
It would be highly unusual for an ophthalmologist to recommend this as a remedy for floaters, and I have never certainly come across it. There would have to be some other pathology in play.
If you have new floater symptoms make an appointment to see an optometrist who will assess you and if necessary dilate your pupil to have a thorough look at your retina.
The analogy about Michael Jackson is an obvious one.. just because a surgery is available to buy privately doesn't make it appropriate.

Thanks very much everyone , I had a really thorough eye examination and I've been referred to the hospital tomorrow just as a precaution.

She said their machines are better and there was a little bit she's not 100%.

I have them quit a lot to (i am 47 ) they drive me mad and although it's not the only reason it is the contributory one as to why I want to change my job because I spend a lot of time looking at screens currently and find difficult to read with all the floaters whizzing around I had my eyes tested last year and there was nothing abnormal then

@DeanStockwelll go to the opticians and try out some blue or yellow tinted lenses, they might stop you seeing the floaters, then you can use those when on the computer.

@Foreverbaffled the point was that you can always find someone to perform surgery on you - even when your nose is disintegrating.

Oooh thank you @FatAgainItsLettuceTime , I will give them a go .

How interesting. My mum was offered it on the nhs also but didn’t want to wait (waiting lists were ridiculously long) so went privately. No complications so far and hopefully that will remain the case.

I was offered vitrectomy on the NHS due to my extreme floaters but I decided against it as it has a high risk of retinal detachment (I’m -9.50 both eyes with astigmatism and lattice degeneration etc) and I’m terrified of that. I joined a few groups on Facebook to hear what others had to say - it’s much more common in the US than here (probably because it’s expensive!) but so many people on the forums had so many post surgery issues and loss of vision for various reasons it was enough to put me off completely.

I have always had floaters. But I got some sudden new ones.

They were large. I then started getting some dark black spider like objects in my vision.

I went to the optician and they diagnosed a torn retina. I was at risk of detachment.

I had to go straight to the eye hospital where they did emergency laser eye surgery to correct it.

I also had a lot of blood pooling in the back of my eye. This was from the tear

I am a few months on now. I have been back a few times for check ups. I now have to go every 3 months to the photographic clinic to check on it. This is for the next year.

The pooling blood has now dispersed which is good.

I wasn't allowed to lift anything for a few months or exercise. But I can now.

So I would recommend that if you have any sudden new floaters that you get it checked out immediately

For those who had laser treatment after a partial detachment, did that fix the floaters that came with that tear or was it aimed only at preventing a detachment?

I’ve had floaters since my twenties, but was almost driven insane by them whirling around while working on screens during lockdown. This lasted about a year before I got used to them again. Not sure if they are genuinely new ones or if I was noticing them because I was anxious (op - I have found they are like tinnitus that way, and you will notice them when stressed) but this thread is a great reminder to have an eye test.

It's only aimed at fixing the detachment. The floaters are in the vitreous fluid, the only way to remove them would be to remove the fluid but that comes with it's own risks

I’ve heard that they can use laser to break up very large floaters but essentially you’re left with lots of little ones instead which can be even more annoying.

I have had laser surgery for a posterior vitreous detachment (the inside of my eyeball peeking away), which was first alerted by floaters. This was about 20 years ago, and I have not had anything since.

That’s so interesting because nowadays they don’t do anything for a pvd unless it’s torn the retina or caused a retinal detachment. (I’ve just had two pvds - one in each eye obviously- myself). I wish they had done something about it!

@JunkIsland
The laser surgery only repaired the retina. The floaters are still there.

My brain has learnt to disregard some of them. But a couple are quite noticeable, especially when it's bright outside.

I also have a prism type patch in my vision that moves around and can be distracting.