23+ Vitreous Humor Floaters

The common type of floater present in most people s eyes is due to these degenerative changes of the vit.

Vitreous humor floaters. Eye floaters are small pieces of debris that float in the eye s vitreous humor. Most floaters are small flecks of a protein called collagen. They re part of a gel like substance in the back of your eye called the vitreous. They are also called muscae volitantes or mouches volantes. As the vitreous shrinks it becomes somewhat stringy and the strands can cast tiny shadows on the retina. Floaters occur when the vitreous a gel like substance that fills about 80 percent of the eye and helps it maintain a round shape slowly shrinks. For most people the condition is a benign temporary phenomenon.

The vitreous usually starts out transparent but imperfections may gradually develop as one ages. The floaters or vitreous opacities should be correlated with the patient s symptoms on a thorough fundus examination. If you notice a sudden increase in eye floaters contact an eye specialist immediately especially if you also see light flashes or lose your peripheral vision. Present at birth it changes little until we enter our fifth decade when it begins to shrink which can lead to disorders ranging from harmless floaters to a vision impairing retinal detachment. If you have eye floaters it is these shadows that you see floating across your field of vision. They seem to appear and disappear for no apparent reason. Vitreous floaters are commonly seen in the elderly and this arises from age related changes in the vitreous humor it liquefies and contracts to some extent thereby pulling the retina with it.

The vitreous chamber is the largest cavity in the eye which makes the vitreous humour the most prominent liquid in the eye. The shadows you see are called floaters. This debris casts shadows onto the retina the light sensitive tissue layer at the back of the eye. Vitreous floaters are a common visual experience for almost everyone at some point in their lives. However vitreous floaters may be associated with physiological and pathological changes involving the vitreous humor its cavity or even the retina. Symptomatic patients who are candidates for treatment report impairment in vision with a specific activity for example with reading watching television or driving and this complaint should be documented in the medical record. Floaters are sometimes visible deposits within the eye s vitreous humour which is normally transparent or between the vitreous and retina.

Microscopic fibers within the vitreous tend to clump and can cast tiny shadows on your retina.