shrinkage of the vitreous humour in the eye (1 Viewer)

[Vivian Darkbloom]

Apparently in older people this is quite a normal occurrence.
In time, the liquefied vitreous body in the eye loses support and its framework contracts. This leads to posterior vitreous detachment, in which the vitreous body is released from the sensory retina. It manifests itself in 'floaters' which are perceived as translucent filaments which seem to swim in the eye.
Has anyone any experience of how this affects older birders, who use binoculars and scopes, and who may have to cope with this condition?
I have just experienced such a problem - affecting my left eye. My normal vision does not appear to be affected but I am anxious to know how other birders cope with this problem.
Thanks

 

[Jeanie]

Hi Viv, I had a PVD a couple of years ago. Most of the larger floaters seem to be have been absorbed. Sometimes it is as if I am looking through dirty glass but most of the time I do not notice it.
Unfortunately it is in my left eye which is the eye I use to view my scope since I have problems with my right eye.

 

[flossiepip]

They say your brain learns to ignore them in time! Try not to think about floaters, hard I know. A stressful life style do's not help! What might help could be to stop drinking coffee and take magnesium, just try not to look at them all the timeand put them out of your mind. I have also heard that trigger point therapy, what ever that is, help's also. Tom

 

[brocknroller]

I've had floaters in my right eye since I was in my 20s. Lots of them. Hard to ignore on a bright day, particularly when looking through binoculars. They are most noticeable in scopes at high magnification, looking at the moon or Jupiter or Saturn or even at Mars at opposition.

I have one or two in my left eye, but I have to look for them to see them, the right eye, they are all over the place, the best I can do is move my eyeball around so they move out of the way, but inevitably, they return. If someone doesn't know what we're talking about, they look like bacteria under a microscope.

They are actually shadows on the retina, not the floaters themselves that you see.

Allegedly, everybody has them or had them at one point after the blood vessel that connected the lens to the retina detached after your eye developed in the womb. But as Vivian said, as you get older, you get a "sloughing" that produces more floaters.

Sunglasses help you ignore them better on a bright day. Or turn the brightness down on your monitor if they are a problem while using your computer.

If you get a sudden increase in floaters, see your eye doctor. It could be a sign of glaucoma.

There is an operation that can remove the floaters, but it's risky. My cousin had it done, and the pressure in her eye went down to almost zero. She almost lost her eyesight in that eye. So it's better just to learn to live with them or, if you can, ignore them.

Brock

 

[BrightIdea]

I've had them since I was a young kid. Sometimes more, other times less. Now is a "more" time.

Binocs, microscope work, and bright days at the beach really emphasize them.

Reduction in coffee helps, huh? Any idea how that is? I like my "joe", so maybe cutting back would help?

 

[ceasar]

When I started to get floaters I began taking a vitamin for the eyes. Bausch & Lomb Ocuvite. They went away. I take one every other day or so now in place of a multiple vitamin and they have stayed away. I also take 500 or 1000mg of vitamin C every day.

Bob

 

[looksharp65]

As I'm an optometrist I face this question several times a week. Brock's post has got some useful information. Some of the floaters are native, but the fact that the eye essentially is a closed system (apart from the exchange of the aqueous humour) means that when debris leave the retina or other internal structures, it is stuck in there.

It's striking how much more often people with impaired health complain about these floaters. Especially those who have either faced excessive stress or burnout syndrome, and those who have been confined to bed for an extended period.

I can see two simultaneous explanations for this. When someone is bed-bound he/she will
1) Have the time and boredom to watch the floaters
2) See them against a brighter background like a white ceiling
3) Have them sink by gravity in another direction compared to when in an upright position.

And when it comes to patients with stress-related syndroms, I'm deeply convinced that the acute stress and the following exhaustion have deep impact on the eye's movements.
The saccades that supply the ultra fast, precise fixation may be too hard to maintain, so the patient experiences impaired vision. I guess the floaters are more prone to stay put when the saccades are out.

This, however, is only my personal theory based on clinical observation.

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The cardinal sign for vitreous detachment is excessive lightning phenomena in the periphery of the visual field. To an extent, these phenomena can occur without/before the detachment, but if they increase in frequency and intensity, and get followed by floaters a vitreous detachment is most probable.

If the patient sees a swaying veil or a dark curtain covering part of the visual field, it's time to see an eye doctor IMMEDIATELY, not the following day or week. We're talking about a retinal detachment then.

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//L

 

[Vivian Darkbloom]

Thanks to all who have contributed such helpful and informative comments.
It's comforting to know that this problem is shared by so many other birders who's hobby depends to such an extent on their eyes functioning properly.

 

[typo]

I first noticed them in my mid-twenties when I was doing quite a bit of microscopy and that that remains the situation where I notice it most. Quite often if they are in annoying place, I just give my eyes a rub and they move a bit, but generally not worth repeating if it doesn't work immediately.

I guess I've got used to it. Only rarely now do I notice a tiny amount of blurring. Relax! It will move on sooner or later.

David

 

[Sancho]

Relax! It will move on sooner or later.

David

I can remember as a kid of seven, bored stiff in school, looking out the window at the sky and "playing" with my floaters, i.e. letting them sink and then suddenly looking up so that they "swam" back up again and began to sink all over again. This may be why I don't understand maths.

 

[birdazzLED]

Judging from your avatar Sancho, it appears you are still playing with them.

 

[Sancho]

Judging from your avatar Sancho, it appears you are still playing with them.

:-O True. But really, the trick is, as previous posters have said, to learn to ignore them. I assume from what's been said that if they really begin to interfere with your vision, or become a permanent "shadow" in some area of your FOV, you need to have the eyes checked out.

 

[mooreorless]

I've had them since I was a young kid. Sometimes more, other times less. Now is a "more" time.

Binocs, microscope work, and bright days at the beach really emphasize them.

Reduction in coffee helps, huh? Any idea how that is? I like my "joe", so maybe cutting back would help?

Yea, I mooreorless have them now as well. You can really notice these when looking through a telescope.

Sancho I have done the same thing with floaters. Bounce them around. Doesn't take much to entertain me.

 

[ronh]

One trick astronomers, who feel floaters strongly because of telescope's small exit pupils, use is, a binoviewer. Both eyes probably won't get a floater in the same place, and the brain is good at making the best of a two eyed image with one image flawed. The other trick is get a bigger scope, so at the same magnification, the exit pupil will be bigger.

We are lucky here. Floaters are not a good thing for sure, but I don't think they will be noticed any more with a typical binocular than with naked eye.
Ron

 

[Raptor 01]

As I'm an optometrist I face this question several times a week. Brock's post has got some useful information. Some of the floaters are native, but the fact that the eye essentially is a closed system (apart from the exchange of the aqueous humour) means that when debris leave the retina or other internal structures, it is stuck in there.

It's striking how much more often people with impaired health complain about these floaters. Especially those who have either faced excessive stress or burnout syndrome, and those who have been confined to bed for an extended period.

I can see two simultaneous explanations for this. When someone is bed-bound he/she will
1) Have the time and boredom to watch the floaters
2) See them against a brighter background like a white ceiling
3) Have them sink by gravity in another direction compared to when in an upright position.

And when it comes to patients with stress-related syndroms, I'm deeply convinced that the acute stress and the following exhaustion have deep impact on the eye's movements.
The saccades that supply the ultra fast, precise fixation may be too hard to maintain, so the patient experiences impaired vision. I guess the floaters are more prone to stay put when the saccades are out.

This, however, is only my personal theory based on clinical observation.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The cardinal sign for vitreous detachment is excessive lightning phenomena in the periphery of the visual field. To an extent, these phenomena can occur without/before the detachment, but if they increase in frequency and intensity, and get followed by floaters a vitreous detachment is most probable.

If the patient sees a swaying veil or a dark curtain covering part of the visual field, it's time to see an eye doctor IMMEDIATELY, not the following day or week. We're talking about a retinal detachment then.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


//L

Extremely good advice regarding seeing an eye doctor. The following tale is about what happened to me last month (May 9th the problem started) I posted it on another forum so I've copied and pasted it.


Our wonderful NHS.

We are so lucky in the UK to have such a wonderful NHS. My mother who died in 2007 aged 82 went almost totally blind in her sixties due to holes developing in the retinas of both her eyes. On Monday afternoon of this week at about 2.45pm I was driving to collect my number one Grandson from school when I was suddenly aware of a large floater in the line of vision of my right eye. In addition to the floater there were hundreds, possibly thousands of pin head sized black dots moving around, blurred vision and silver coloured light flashes from time to time. When I got back to my Grandson's house I phoned my doctor's surgery and told the woman who answered what had happened. She gave me an appointment for the Tuesday morning which I attended. The doctor looked inside both my eyes with the light but couldn't see anything negative. However, in view of what had happened to my mum he faxed all the details to the district general hospital and someone telephoned me in the early afternoon with an appointment for this morning (Wednesday) I attended the hospital appointment this morning and was examined by an eye specialist who found a small hole near the top of the retina in my right eye plus some bleeding. Straight after lunch I received laser surgery to the eye to hopefully put things right.

Geoff.