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Thread: Eyeball floaters

  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2005
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    Highland MI
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    Eyeball floaters

    Very annoying. I have had one for almost a week now that looks like a curly thread hanging down swinging in the breeze. Went to my ophthalmologist yesterday, not much he can do about them without causing more problems. Oh joy. He did cataract/lens implant surgery two years ago and of course mine was the one that went not so smooth. Got overmedicated. Apparently I kept asking for more sedative, don't recall it. Went to Culver's afterward and my wife said I ordered a blueberry milkshake which she thought was odd. Don't remember that. He missed a small piece of the original lens so I had to go under again to remove it. Vision was still somewhat cloudy, so I needed a laser treatment to fix that and ended up with a big floater, which he warned me may happen, but it finally went away. And every time I sat in the waiting room all sorts of folks marveled at how they immediately could see a flyspeck at 100 yards after their surgery. My luck.

    I have been with him since he started his practice in a small office. Now he partnered with another doctor and has a very nice size practice, beautiful office with all of the fancy machines. You don't get there unless you are a very good doctor.

    Now I have to go to a retina specialist to get the go-ahead to return to him for another laser treatment to clear up some residual cloudiness.

    He is asking me how soon I will get my other eye done as it is getting cloudy although it doesn't bother me much, I tell him I am in no hurry.
    NOW you tell me...

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Williamsburg,Va.
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    12,402
    My lens replacement went perfectly,thank goodness. I can see .38 caliber bullet holes on targets 100 yards away. Still use glasses for closeup,and 4X drugstore glasses for the tiny work I get into.

    My work partner and friend Jon has not been so lucky. He never had great vision,which kept him from being a Navy Seal. He had Lasik(sp?) surgery on his eyes some time ago,then more recently had lens replacement. The Lasik somehow messed up his eyes for lens replacement,and now he has a very bad time seeing what he is doing. And,he was a first class craftsman,too. Worked with me since 1986 in the Toolmaker's Shop.

    So,if any of you have had Lasik,be warned.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    Medina Ohio
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    4,534
    I have one that floats around the first time I noticed it I was getting a hair cut and thought it was a gnat or piece of hair.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Chappell Hill, Texas
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    4,741
    I have a lot of floaters. Last time I was at the eye Dr he even commented on how many I had. I wonder if they are a result of spraying finishes over the years.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
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    Longview WA
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    Guess it has been easy on my. There have been floaters in my eyes for as long as can be remembered. Just got used to them as a kid.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Location
    SF Bay Area, CA
    Posts
    15,332
    I have a one or two in each eye. You get used to them and I rarely see them unless the subject is brought up. Occasionally my wife will catch me swatting at nothing and then I realize it was one of my floaters happening by.... The last time I discussed them with my eye doctor, he says they are normal and no one really knows why we get them.
    Wood: a fickle medium....

    Did you know SMC is user supported? Please help.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Annapolis, MD
    Posts
    135
    I have several that my doctor says are normal aging--mid-40's and original equipment starts to fail. In my case they are translucent threads; they look to me like stuff I saw looking at pond water under a microscope in high school. Doctor says they are gelled portions of the eyeball fluid, and nothing to worry about as they are not precursors to or markers of anything more sinister than the passage of time. However, he also said there are some types of floaters that can indicate problems (like retinal detachment or other eye diseases/failures) so it is important to have them evaluated when you first see them to know exactly which type you are seeing.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    Issaquah, Washington
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    Mine are pretty much as Matt describes, "they look to me like stuff I saw looking at pond water under a microscope in high school". Same evaluation by my doctor, "not to worry".

    I had Lasik on both eyes about 15 years ago with no issues other than near vision. 250 level reading glasses work fine but I really can't see tiny detail anymore no matter how close I bring in the object or what glasses I put on. Kind of frustrating but, like the floaters, I've adapted.

  9. #9
    There's a eye doctor in this area that specializes in treating floaters. My wife had the procedure done and it eliminated the floaters. He's on the forefront of this procedure and has published his procedure and results in medical journal(s) but I doubt if many other doctors are doing it yet.

    Mike
    Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.

  10. #10
    I have had them forever. They actually are most bothersome when reading a book. I keep checking my reading glasses for smudges.

  11. #11
    Ditto here. Have had them for as long as I can remember. back to my 20's. Especially noticeable when you are looking at a light colored, opaque surface or area. I am used to them by now. Have had lasik, by the way, and no complications or conflicts with that. fact of life I have gotten used to.

    Erik
    Ex-SCM and Felder rep

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by george wilson View Post
    My lens replacement went perfectly,thank goodness. I can see .38 caliber bullet holes on targets 100 yards away. Still use glasses for closeup,and 4X drugstore glasses for the tiny work I get into.

    My work partner and friend Jon has not been so lucky. He never had great vision,which kept him from being a Navy Seal. He had Lasik(sp?) surgery on his eyes some time ago,then more recently had lens replacement. The Lasik somehow messed up his eyes for lens replacement,and now he has a very bad time seeing what he is doing. And,he was a first class craftsman,too. Worked with me since 1986 in the Toolmaker's Shop.

    So,if any of you have had Lasik,be warned.
    I had LASIK twice and then about 15 years later had cataracts removed/lenses implanted. My doc forewarned that they are not able to accurately predict the strength of the replacement lens i LASIK patients. Why, they do not know. He did tell me he would make his best educated guess and afterwards, could make a better estimation of the lens strength, which would require another surgery to replace the lens. That is exactly what happened. The first eye had two surgeries, the second eye was close, but offered me the ability to read with it, so I have mono vision. I can see distance ( 20/40) well and read without glasses. I'm happy with the result.

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