"There are always dark shadows floating in front of me, following me wherever I look..." What's going on here? This is "floaters".

Floaters refer to small black shadows floating in front of the eyes, or dots, sheets, and string-like floating objects flying shadows, more obvious when looking at a white bright background, sometimes accompanied by a sense of flashing, also known as "fly disease".

It is generally caused by vitreous degeneration, which is a natural aging phenomenon, that is, with age, the glass will "liquify" and produce some turbidity.

Therefore, the official name of floaters is "vitreous chaos" or "vitreous floaters".

Floaters are a symptom that occurs when the vitreous body of our eyes becomes cloudy and liquefied.

There are two main causes of vitreous abnormalities, namely physiological and pathological.

Physiological floaters are mostly manifested as small dots or filamentous floating objects in front of the eyes, and sometimes they can be seen with their eyes closed.

The causes of physiological floaters are mostly caused by the detachment of vitreous body after liquefaction, which mostly occurs in people over 40 years old, and most patients are physiological floaters.

If it is physiological floaters, most of them do not need special treatment, just pay attention to whether the symptoms are worsening.

It is understood that at present, laser treatment can be used to crush the larger turbidity plaque in the glass, reduce the impact on the visual perception of patients, and effectively improve the symptoms of physiological floaters.

Most of the pathologic floaters are similar to physiological floaters at the beginning, and may show symptoms such as sudden increase of floating objects in front of the eyes, fixed shadow occlusion, and even decreased central vision in the later stage.

Pathological floater is commonly seen in retinal degeneration, hiatus caused by high myopia, or fundus hemorrhage and uveal inflammation, mostly for other eye diseases resulting in vitreous turbidity and blood accumulation, floater.

The cause of pathological floaters is complex, and you should go to the hospital as soon as possible. After proper treatment of eye disease, pathological floaters will be relieved.

Floaters should be tested early, but a test result is not always free of problems. Once there is a flash of light, a sudden increase in floaters, or the sight is obscured, it is necessary to undergo detailed examination immediately.

Floaters refer to small black shadows floating in front of the eyes, especially when looking at white bright background symptoms are more obvious, may be accompanied by flashing. Vitreous liquefaction and posterior dislocation are the main causes of floaters. This occurs in 70% of patients, but a quarter of patients may have vision-threatening lesions, the main one being retinal hiatus formation.

When floaters are seen, the fundus should be carefully examined with dilated mydriasis, including slit lamp trihedral examination.

Special treatment is not required for posterior vitreous detachment only, and the lesions that are harmful to vision should be treated according to relevant principles.

In floaters caused by intraocular inflammation, the dark shadow in front of the eyes is mostly dust-like or flocculent, and the visual acuity may be affected to different degrees.

Under the ophthalmoscope, the vitreous body can be seen with dust-like and flock-like floaters, and pathological changes such as exudation caused by the inflammation of the choroid in the middle part and white sheath of blood vessels can be seen through the slit lamp three-side mirror.

Floaters caused by intraocular hemorrhage feel black shadows like moving clouds or flowing ink in front of their eyes, and occasionally have red or orange floating objects.

Under the ophthalmoscope or slit-lamp, flake, flocculent and mass bleeding of varying thickness in the vitreous body can be seen and the primary retinal lesion causing the bleeding can be seen.

Bleeding caused by posterior vitreous detachment from traction vessels is often accompanied by retinal hiatus and should be noted.