# Do you have eye floaters?



## Zephyr (Nov 8, 2003)

I have a nice, stringy, dark one in my right eye. That's the myopic one (other eye is basically okay). It showed up March 2008. Luckily it's located down at the edge of my vision, and I only see it if I look down and then quickly up. It shoots up into the middle of my field, and then slowly sinks back down. I move my eye and it darts around like a fly.

One day, perhaps, I will compose a poem to it.


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## Dempsey (Jun 27, 2009)

I think everyone has them but mine aren't too bad. I can't even remember the last time I noticed them. I guess it's like the ringing in your ears eventually you just ignore it until you get a new one.


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## Duke of Prunes (Jul 20, 2009)

I've got lots of them but I don't notice them unless I'm looking at something bright.


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## Teagirl (Aug 3, 2009)

I have one in the lower part of my right eye.
When I drink something I always think there's a fruitfly in my glass :roll


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## markx (Dec 22, 2007)

I have whole clouds of them but I don't usually think about them until someone asks "Do you have eye floaters?".  They're most noticeable when I'm reading so I tend to read with one eye shut. Consequently my right eye is much more intelligent than my left eye. :b


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## LostinReverie (Mar 18, 2007)

What?


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## IllusionalFate (Sep 10, 2008)

I don't have floaters in any particular section of my eye, they just randomly appear in various places and travel across my entire field of vision.


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## LoneLioness (Nov 16, 2003)

Oh, squiggly line in my eye fluid. I see you lurking there on the periphery of my vision. But when I try to look at you, you scurry away. Are you shy, squiggly line? Why only when I ignore you, do you return to the center of my eye? Oh, squiggly line, it's alright, you are forgiven


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## zookeeper (Jun 3, 2009)

LoneLioness said:


> Oh, squiggly line in my eye fluid. I see you lurking there on the periphery of my vision. But when I try to look at you, you scurry away. Are you shy, squiggly line? Why only when I ignore you, do you return to the center of my eye? Oh, squiggly line, it's alright, you are forgiven


That's very touching.


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## zookeeper (Jun 3, 2009)

So you guys are talking about ones you seen when your eyes are open? I didn't know there were such things. I get the lighty specks that float around when my eyes are closed.

Random story: when I was doing my withdrawal from alcohol, every time I closed my eyes I would see the little floaty things, but they were turning into faces and flying towards me, which was weird. But even weirder (I think anyway) was that one of the flying faces was Chairman Mao, and I thought to myself at the time, amidst all the flying faces, "Wow, now _that_ was strange."


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## Zephyr (Nov 8, 2003)

zookeeper said:


> So you guys are talking about ones you seen when your eyes are open? I didn't know there were such things. I get the lighty specks that float around when my eyes are closed.


Yes. The eyes-closed specks are something different.

I think it's true that everyone has floaters, but probably not everyone has noticed them. Maybe you need to be more neurotic, hehe.

Try this: go outside on a sunny day and look up at a part of the blue sky. Then squint your eyes a bit. If you pay attention you should see faint, colourless transparent blobs and squiggles floating around your field of vision. I have a lot of those, but hardly ever notice them. The one I got last year is bigger, and is a black/dark brown colour. I think it's closer to my retina as well because it's much more mobile than those other ones.



Teagirl said:


> I have one in the lower part of my right eye.
> When I drink something I always think there's a fruitfly in my glass :roll


Yep, that's it. Mine reminds me of a little fly darting around. It's in the lower part of my right eye too.


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## Zephyr (Nov 8, 2003)

LoneLioness said:


> Oh, squiggly line in my eye fluid. I see you lurking there on the periphery of my vision. But when I try to look at you, you scurry away. Are you shy, squiggly line? Why only when I ignore you, do you return to the center of my eye? Oh, squiggly line, it's alright, you are forgiven


Haha. Family Guy has riffed on eye floaters a couple times. Here's a clip:


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## kanarazu (Jul 4, 2009)

yeah ever since i started wellbutrin....not bad or anything, hopefully they won't get worse though


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## zookeeper (Jun 3, 2009)

Zephyr said:


> Yes. The eyes-closed specks are something different.
> 
> I think it's true that everyone has floaters, but probably not everyone has noticed them. Maybe you need to be more neurotic, hehe.
> 
> Try this: go outside on a sunny day and look up at a part of the blue sky. Then squint your eyes a bit. If you pay attention you should see faint, colourless transparent blobs and squiggles floating around your field of vision. I have a lot of those, but hardly ever notice them. The one I got last year is bigger, and is a black/dark brown colour. I think it's closer to my retina as well because it's much more mobile than those other ones.


I'm not sure I want to notice them, because then I don't think I'd ever be able to un-notice them.


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## Toad Licker (Nov 2, 2007)

Yes a few of them.


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## millenniumman75 (Feb 4, 2005)

I think I have one in my right eye.


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## cakesniffer (Nov 11, 2003)

I have them, but really only notice them when I'm looking a white wall or something. My college's campus center was bright and white, so I had fun tracking my floaters when I was bored. :b


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## UltraShy (Nov 8, 2003)

Yes. As far as I know everyone does, though you don't typically notice them as you're not looking for them.


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## ellektra (Mar 19, 2007)

LOLOL, I love Family Guy.


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## EagerMinnow84 (Sep 1, 2007)

I have them quite often. They are annoying but sometimes I do not notice them. I like to follow them and then see how far they move away from my pupil and then move my eye really fast and see it scurry away. 

I used to think there was something wrong with my eyes since I had floaters since I was a kid.


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## Hank Scorpio (Oct 28, 2008)

I have a lot of them. My eyes really suck. Also I swear things just look slightly more red out of my right eye and slightly more blue out of the left. I'm not color blind, it's just kind of the shade of colors. I seriously wonder if I damaged them with 3-D glasses.


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## Freedom2010 (Jan 29, 2009)

Nope. I am very glad. I already have enough stuff wrong with my eyes!


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## Duke of Prunes (Jul 20, 2009)

Hank Scorpio said:


> I have a lot of them. My eyes really suck. Also I swear things just look slightly more red out of my right eye and slightly more blue out of the left. I'm not color blind, it's just kind of the shade of colors. I seriously wonder if I damaged them with 3-D glasses.


I get that too, only things look more red with my left eye and more blue with my right eye. I don't think it's that uncommon.

My eyes aren't too good, I'm like -4.5 in both eyes, which doesn't sound that bad but it's bad enough that I can't function without glasses or contact lenses. I can't even recognise faces from a few metres away. I think short sightedness is supposed to cause lots of floaters, are you short sighted as well?


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## millenniumman75 (Feb 4, 2005)

Hank Scorpio said:


> I have a lot of them. My eyes really suck. Also I swear things just look slightly more red out of my right eye and slightly more blue out of the left. I'm not color blind, it's just kind of the shade of colors. I seriously wonder if I damaged them with 3-D glasses.


Not unless you wore them 24/7 for a long period of time. :stu


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## DeeperUnderstanding (May 19, 2007)

I went to my eye doctor about them. She said that they're not dangerous unless your vision changes. 

I also get flashing lights in my eyes for a few seconds sometimes, too.


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## EagerMinnow84 (Sep 1, 2007)

WintersTale said:


> I went to my eye doctor about them. She said that they're not dangerous unless your vision changes.
> 
> I also get flashing lights in my eyes for a few seconds sometimes, too.


I got mine checked out too a few times.

I get the flashing too. Not often though, thankfully.


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## KyleThomas (Jul 1, 2009)

WintersTale said:


> I went to my eye doctor about them. She said that they're not dangerous unless your vision changes.


I've always assumed that everyone got eye floaters, and that it's just a natural consequence of your eyes being coated in liquid.



> I also get flashing lights in my eyes for a few seconds sometimes, too.


Very occasionally I'll get completely distorted peripheral vision - it's like looking through a window with water being poured down the glass, but only at the sides of my vision. From what I've read, these are a form of migraine, but without the headache. It's quite surreal, but it did freak me out a bit the first time it happened. I thought I might be going blind!


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## Shauna The Dead (Jun 16, 2005)

i have a lot. they're annoying


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## estse (Nov 18, 2003)

Family is so fragile, you're running
You're ****ing weak now, ...on your own
On your own, with your eye floaters.


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## Pocketfox (Jul 3, 2009)

I have a fair few, but I guess I've tuned them out. They only really distract me when I'm looking at the sky.










A picture, for anyone who doesn't know what they look like.


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## VCL XI (Jan 19, 2004)

Yep, tons. Hate 'em.


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## shyvr6 (Feb 18, 2008)

I have a few of them. Whenever I wear my glasses they are pretty noticeable.


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