Eye floaters - please help. Feeling very desperate.

[Leotheo21]

I know there have been a lot of threads on this subject over the years but none seem to discuss floaters that are permanently in your central vision. Seeking some advice and reassurance as I am feeling very low right now.

Three months ago I had never heard of floaters let alone experienced one. Then one day I noticed a dark black floater in my central vision. After noticing that one I noticed a few more but they don't really bother me as they are only visible if I move my eyes rapidly. The one in the centre of my vision I see 24/7. I have had my eyes checked and dilated twice, my eyes are healthy.

Apparently your brain learns to ignore floaters over time. Is this true for black floaters permentantly situated in the centre of your vision? No amount of eye movement will make it go out of view, believe me I've tried.

Please help. I'm feeling very anxious and worried. If anyone has had a similar experience and could offer some advice or share your experience with these types of floaters, I would be forever grateful.

Fuck this. That is actually dangerous advice,

I had to look this up to see where this shit came from and here I quote :

“TikTok users claim that using castor oil on your eyes can help improve vision and get rid of eye floaters and glaucoma. There's no scientific data to back up those claims, according to ophthalmologists, who say you should never put castor oil directly in your eyes.”

that’ll be flat earther and creationist twats then.

Sorry, in terms of your question, how long before you stop “seeing them”,
as I said, with the Weiss rings I notice them at some point each day, but it isn’t something that I’m anxious about (was at time) . I probably “adapted” to living with them over about 4 months each time

but then I’ve always been very short sighted and had to deal with eyes that don’t do what I’d really like. I make sure I get glasses to do specific tasks, and treat them like you do shoes - yep I could go about without them on, but why make life more uncomfortable and difficult , and I choose the right “shoes” for the right task . The floaters are an extension of that, choose right light level, avoid certain practices like staring at white walls by sitting facing darker/shadier walls/areas. Get a bigger screen to to read sub titles, have motion sensor night lights that minimise the dark curtain effect at night if I need a wee, to avoid crashing into something in the dark on the way to the loo. It’s about management .

A compress doesn’t involve putting anything directly in your eyes.

Definition of compress “a pad of lint or other absorbent material pressed on to part of the body “

you’re pressing a pad that’s had castor oil put on it over the eye . Do you really think there’s no chance of some of that getting into the eye ?

or by compression do you mean you waft it over your head away from the eye so none goes in, and it magically repairs the degeneration of vitreous inside the eyeball ?

🤦‍♀️🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

I really feel for you OP. I had this issue with new floaters at a time when I was also suffering health anxiety. And blepharitis.
I was at the optician constantly.
I read about how floaters become less obvious over time - whether due to fading or brain filtering. I was absolutely convinced that there was no way I’d ever not notice them. They were all I could see anywhere I went. Like a spider web across my vision.

I had forgotten about them though until I read this!
I agree with trying to distract your thoughts or just train yourself to say ‘they’re normal and will fade’ any time you feel panicked.

💐

I was getting flashes and floaters for like 6 months before I got diagnosed with myopia CNV, which is essentially a leaking blood vessel at the back of the eye and blocked my whole central vision. This has now led to sub-retinal fibrosis and permanent damage - what I have if my vision now is all I'll have. I'm unable to recognise faces and read with my affected eye.

My advice is do not leave it like I did, go and get it checked again when it happens. Good luck, OP.

I have floaters, I’ve also had PVD. I recently had a lot more floaters so I went to eye casualty thinking it might be a tear in my retina or the start of a detachment. My diagnosis is branch vein retinal occlusion and now my sight in that eye is distorted and very blurred. I’m worried sick. Floaters are usually harmless but can be a sign of something serious.

If its central and never moves have they ruled out AMD? I have two central fuzzy spots. It's damage to my macular blood vessels

I have what I call a "dead pixel" in my left eye vision. It's a black thing that floats around wherever I look. I mentioned it to my optician (who is excellent and very thorough) 3 years ago and she couldn't see it so said it's not a concern. I've still got it. I usually ignore it but now that it's coming on for spider season it's really giving me the willies 🙈
Sitting in my room at night (which has white flooring) and suddenly because the dead pixel is a bastard, it looks like something dark is running towards me. I've dived off the bed three times in the past couple of weeks in an attempt to kill the fucker. But nope, it's that fucking dead pixel. Good job I’m not afraid of spiders otherwise I'd have had three heart attacks so far

I've got one of those in my right eye!
Haven't dived off the bed yet tho...!

OP, bloody annoying, I know. I hate floaters and I've got more of them with age, PVDs, various other eye issues

The big black sods take longer to break down and for your brain to compensate but it will happen

My ophthalmologist recommends keeping hydrated and flaxseed oil for general eye health

I really don't know anything about treatment, just had it mentioned to me.

So my eye issues started in February. I still have a lot of floater ms but the main patch that was more obvious has been gone a couple of months now. So maybe around 6 months.

I know what a compress is love, and the warning is not to put castor oil directly in your eye. A compress is not something I would bother personally, but your pp was silly hysteria.

I have always had some floaters, even as a child (was short sighted then but not yet severely). I did get used to them as they were always there. They've increased a lot as an adult, and I do find some of them make my vision blurry, like I'm looking through fog at times, which is annoying - but again I can get used to them except when looking at white screens, walls, bright skies etc. I also had a huge number of black floaters after a PVD about ten years ago that resulted in a retinal tear, but those did mostly sink/reabsorb, and actually got better after a few months. Some of them were quite large, though most were salt and pepper like spots. They made music reading particularly difficult.

Oddly, I have not had a PVD in the other eye, ten years on, which I'm surprised about, as I was also told that it was likely to happen within a couple of years, and everything I've read about it confirms this. But obviously not always. Both my eyes are short-sighted, pretty similarly, so not sure why one went and the other not - there was no trauma that I'm aware of.

The floaters are really annoying at times, but I have learned to live with them, and try not to think about them as much as possible.

Our brain adjust, which is why we do not 'see' our nose when we open our eyes. The less you think about it the less you will notice it!

I take astaxanthin for eye health. If you google 'astaxanthin eye floaters' there is a medical study on its ability to help with the degradation of the membranes in the eye.

I use the Castorvida compress kits. The full size one for kidney, liver detox and lower back pain/period pain. I also use their mini compress kit for my thyroid area, aswell as my eyes. I put 1tsp of castor oil on the soft fabric side and place over my closed eyes. Leave on for an hour or so.

As I said, my floaters have gone. And I no longer have dry eyes from being peri menopausal.

Here’s a link to their website with further info:-

https://www.castorvida.co.uk/eye-health

Hope that helps.

I don't understand how a compress on the outside of the eye can get rid of a floater on the inside 🤔

Don't forget to ask about uveitis if you notice your vision getting worse. My only symptoms were eyesight getting slightly worse and floaters, no pain or redness etc. After loads of tests the doctors settled on autoimmune uveitis which is very well controlled now thank god. I see 2 consultants and they monitor my condition and adjust medications accordingly.

May I ask what the symptoms where that they diagnosed on?

how did they settle on that diagnosis? Was there a particular test that determined it? What kind of treatment do you have? I wondered if I had a variety of this; the optician isn't sure what my symptoms are. A mast cell stabiliser seems to have helped but I can't have it long term. I read a bit about uveitis and wondered if it could be, but she probably would have seen that, but I'm not sure.

I ask as I have an AI disease in which uveitis is common

My vision had decreased, I couldn't see the whiteboard in college clearly etc. I had floaters but just thought nothing of them because everyone has them 🙈 I went to my optician to get stronger glasses and she was kinda surprised I hadn't been in beforehand, so it was fairly bad. My optician referred me to a consultant ophthalmologist who did a load of inpatient tests including MRI, lumbar puncture etc. They couldn't find an underlying cause of my uveitis so they settled on autoimmune (until something else happens and they can link them!). This process obviously took some time, it wasn't as quick as it reads!

Started with high dose of steroids to get the inflammation down and now I'm on a low dose steroid daily along with an immunosuppressive drug weekly.
This started for me about 15 years ago so I don't really remember all the details. My consultant does ask every now and then if they ever found a cause, I suppose he's intrigued as it has gone on for so long and is almost constantly flaring when I try to get off the steroids.

Sorry, long post.