Floaters

Overview

Most people have floaters that come and go, and they often don’t need treatment. But sometimes floaters can be a sign of a more serious eye condition. If you notice new floaters that appear suddenly and don’t go away, tell your eye doctor right away.

Signs and Symptoms

Floaters move as your eyes move — so when you try to look at them directly, they seem to move away. When your eyes stop moving, floaters keep drifting across your vision.

You may notice floaters more when you look at something bright, like white paper or a blue sky.

Sometimes new floaters can be a sign of a more serious eye condition. Symptoms that may signal a serious problem include:

• A lot of new floaters that appear suddenly, sometimes with flashes of light
• A dark shadow (like a curtain) or blurry area in your side or central vision

Related Health Effects

Floaters usually happen because of normal changes in your eyes. As you age, tiny strands of your vitreous, the gel-like fluid that fills your eye, stick together and cast shadows on your retina (the light-sensitive layer of tissue at the back of the eye). Those shadows appear as floaters.

Floaters can be linked to several more serious eye conditions, including:

• Uveitis (inflammation in the eye)
• Bleeding in the eye
• Retinal detachment

Diagnosis

Your eye doctor can check for floaters as part of a comprehensive eye exam. Your doctor will give you some eye drops to dilate (widen) your pupil and then check your eyes for floaters and other eye problems.

This exam is usually painless. The doctor may press on your eyes to check for retinal tears, which may be uncomfortable for some people.

Causes and Risk Factors

Almost everyone develops floaters as they get older, but some people are at higher risk. You are at higher risk if you:

• Are nearsighted
• Have diabetes
• Have had surgery to treat cataracts

Treatment and Management

Treatment for floaters depends on the cause:

• If your floaters are caused by another eye condition, you may need treatment for that condition.
• If your floaters are caused by aging and they don’t bother you, you probably won’t need any treatment.

Find Clinical Trials

Clinical trials uncover better ways to prevent, diagnose, treat, and understand diseases and conditions. To ensure results apply to everyone, volunteers of all ages, sexes, and backgrounds, including both healthy individuals and those with specific medical conditions, are needed. Find clinical trials on floaters.

Living With Floaters

If your floaters are not caused by an underlying eye condition such as diabetic retinopathy or retinal detachment, and you don’t need any treatment, most people can be reassured that their floaters will improve with time and are not a threat to their vision.

Research Information

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the largest public funder of biomedical research in the world. NIH invests most of its budget in medical research seeking to enhance life and to reduce illness and disability. NIH-funded research has led to breakthroughs and new treatments helping people live longer, healthier lives, and building the research foundation that drives discovery.

NIH supports research on the causes, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of eye disorders.

Find NIH-funded research projects using NIH RePORTER, a searchable database of current and past research projects supported by NIH and other federal agencies.