What are the Causes and Risk Factors of Eye Floaters?
Eye floaters commonly occur and do not generally cause any significant trouble in majority of individuals. But they may indicate more serious trouble such as retinal detachment, which is a medical emergency and if not treated appropriately and promptly it may lead to serious disturbance in vision or blindness. Although most individuals with eye floaters tend to ignore them, it is wise to consult your eye doctor on a regular basis if you have eye floaters. You should also learn and educate yourself about the danger signs of eye floaters.
Causes of eye floaters:
Eye floaters most commonly occur due to age related changes that take place in vitreous humour. Vitreous humour is jelly like transparent liquid inside the eyeball, which help to maintain the round shape of eyeball. There are numerous (may be millions) of fine microscopic fibers (made of collagen and hyaluronic acid) intertwined to each other in vitreous humour and they are attached to retina. When vitreous humour becomes more liquid as a result of aging these fine fibers may get clumped to each other which floats in the vitreous humour and when they come in the field of vision while floating we see them as floaters, as they cast a shadow on the retina.
Retinal detachment or posterior vitreous detachment may also result in eye floaters. Hyaloid artery which runs through vitreous humour during fetal development regresses few weeks before birth, but sometimes it can leave some cell matter which can cause eye floaters.
Other causes of eye floaters include leakage of red blood cells into vitreous humour from blood vessels, white blood cells in vitreous humour as seen in toxoplasmosis.
Trouble signs of eye floaters:
Sudden appearance of numerous eye floaters is one of danger signs of eye floaters, which may indicate retinal detachment, which need immediate and adequate surgical treatment to prevent loss of vision or blindness. If you notice sudden increase in floaters, you must consult your ophthalmologist.
What are the risk factors of eye floaters?
The risk factors of developing eye floaters include:
- Old age, more than 50 years of age.
- Myopia or nearsightedness
- Cataract eye surgery, as complication.
- Trauma in the eye.
- Inflammation of eye
- Diabetes, especially when diabetic retinopathy develops.
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