Floaters before the eyes are floating spots of various shapes and sizes (dashes, lines, nets, cobwebs), which are clearly visible when looking at light-colored objects or a bright background. They are especially visible against the background of the sky, a white wall or snow.
Such floaters can appear in front of one or both eyes at the same time; occur periodically or be constant companions. Their distinctive feature is their floating nature. The flies seem to float following the movement of the eyes. When looking from object to object, they continuously repeat the same trajectory, only slightly delayed.
In most cases, the appearance of floaters before the eyes is not accompanied by unpleasant symptoms. But sometimes this phenomenon can be associated with a headache, flashes before the eyes or decreased vision.
General characteristics of the symptom
Some people experience unpleasant symptoms - when making visual contact with various backgrounds or objects in the field of vision, peculiar dark spots appear. These structures move along with the movement of the eyeball and complicate visual perception, cause irritation and provoke severe headaches. Spots can take several forms:
- dots;
- thin threads or balls of thread;
- dashes (worms);
- grains or nodules;
- snowflakes;
- sparks;
- shiny lightning;
- golden or silver rain.
Dark structures resemble the flickering of flies or dust in the eyes. These phenomena are especially clearly visible on a bright, uniform surface (light, uniformly colored surfaces, snow, clear daytime sky). The main sign of the presence of pathology is that the flies remain unchanged in shape over a significant period of time and are always visible in good lighting conditions.
The generally accepted term defines such phenomena as “floaters.” They arise as a result of destructive changes in the vitreous body and significantly reduce the quality of life of patients. Pathology has no age limit - such a symptom complex can appear at a young and mature age, covering both healthy people and patients with a number of provoking diseases.
Features of the appearance of symptoms
The pathological appearance of floaters is associated with a violation of the physiological state of the vitreous body (VF), which fills the cavity between the lens and the retina. Normally, the structure of the vitreous body is represented by a network of collagen fibers (channels), the space between which (cisterns) is filled with a gel-like substance. As a result of exposure to pathogenic factors, fluid circulation in channels and tanks is disrupted.
Symptoms of vitreous destruction are often confused with temporary optical effects.
Destabilization of metabolic processes leads to a biochemical reaction in which collagen fibers harden./p>
Floaters appear as a consequence of fibrovascular proliferation, which makes it difficult for light to refract onto the retina. In addition to circulatory disorders, opacities can be caused by crystalline inclusions of salts of certain metals and cholesterol.
Prevention measures
If you are concerned about black spots in front of your eyes, which are appearing more and more often, you should take a number of measures to prevent this pathology. In the early stages, treatment is possible without surgery or medications. Prevention is possible if there are not too many black spots in the eyes, they do not reduce the quality of life and do not tire with their appearance. The main preventive measure is a review of lifestyle. Follow the recommendations of ophthalmologists:
- Get active.
- Exercise regularly outdoors, in a fitness club or at home.
- Take walks more often.
- Quit smoking.
- Stop drinking alcohol.
- Eat right, provide your body with the vitamins and minerals it needs.
- Try to get more sleep.
- Limit eye strain.
Basic principles of treatment
The feasibility of treatment, diagnosis and approach to treatment of floaters are determined after a series of diagnostic procedures. Diagnosis by indirect biomicroscopy with dilated pupils is aimed at establishing the factors that provoked the development of symptoms.
Ophthalmoscopy and differential methods are also used to clarify the nature and severity of damage.
To get rid of idiopathic floaters (optical spots), treatment or preventive measures are not required - such floaters will go away on their own.
The treatment plan depends on the factors causing the floaters. Symptomatic manifestations that do not go away for a long time and are accompanied by the following manifestations require a therapeutic approach:
- "curtain" effect;
- sudden decrease or loss of vision.
The main treatment is aimed at eliminating the causes of the clouding. Symptomatic treatment helps alleviate the course of the main and accompanying symptoms, stabilizes the physical and psycho-emotional state of the patient.
Approach to age-related disorders
Age-related changes in the vitreous body are characterized by gradual degradation of vitrosin fibers, destabilization of the gel-like substance, retinal detachment and other pathologies. The table shows methods of treating age-related opacities, depending on the type of disease.
| Type of pathology | Recovery technique |
| Retinal detachment | Argon laser therapy on the retina |
| Retinal detachment | Argon laser therapy on the retina |
| Cholesterol inclusions | Tablets for lowering cholesterol Traykor, Mertenil |
| Hemorrhage without reabsorption | Vitrectomy (excision of CT) |
| Complete destruction of the structural components of the ST | Vitrectomy |
Laser therapy for older people is performed after assessing all risks (diabetes mellitus, concomitant cataracts). In the case of contraindications and the absence of alternative treatment, some patients get used to living with floaters. Such patients are prescribed palliative care (sedative medications, conversations with a psychologist).
Treatment of ophthalmological pathologies
There are several ways to treat floaters in front of the eyes, the source of which is eye diseases. Therapy is carried out in the following areas:
- Stimulation of restoration of the functional composition of the vitreous substance
. To restore collagen fibers and gel-like substance, hydrolyzed collagen, glycine, L-cysteine, silicon and vitamin C are prescribed. - Restoring a detached retina
. To remove a significant retinal detachment, it is necessary to perform an operation to restore its anatomical fit. - Cataract removal
. Since floaters appear in the eyes with severe cataracts, surgical replacement of the clouded lens is performed. - Treatment of infectious and parasitic infestations
. Antibacterial, antifungal or antiparasitic therapy is carried out using antimicrobial agents, anthelmintic and other antiparasitic drugs.
The success of treatment depends on the severity of the underlying disease. In the primary stages of ophthalmological pathologies, complete elimination of floaters is acceptable. If the provoking factors are aggravated after the procedures, partial manifestations of symptoms are possible.
Therapy of vascular disorders
Restoring the normal functional state of the vitreous body allows you to quickly get rid of floaters in the eyes caused by impaired blood flow. In the treatment of vascular pathologies, a number of medications, physical therapy and a set of therapeutic and preventive exercises are used. Medicines include the following:
- highly selective - adrenergic blockers;
- vitamins A, E, D, C, group B;
- mineral complexes;
- proteolytic enzymes;
- non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs;
- diuretics;
- anion exchange resins;
- vasodilators;
- muscle relaxants.
The therapeutic plan is based on the treatment of the main provoking factor. For symptomatic treatment, mild sedatives are prescribed, aimed at restoring the psycho-emotional background and reducing headaches.
Preventive measures
After diagnostic measures have been carried out, in which the cause of the floaters in the eyes is determined and treatment is prescribed, patients are given several general recommendations:
- do eye exercises aimed at strengthening adjacent muscles and reducing the risk of developing pathologies;
- observe the rules of personal hygiene;
- organize your meals.
Compliance with basic preventive measures prevents the development of pathological symptoms and has a positive effect on the physiological and functional state of the eyes.
Why do flies fly before my eyes?
Details Author: LDC Neuron Published: November 10, 2015
Everyone has probably encountered such a phenomenon as dark or bright flashing spots before their eyes? Which occur during rapid movements, after a sleepless night, overexertion, overwork, after a hard day, and sometimes simply for no reason.
But there is always a reason and it needs to be established in order to remove serious pathologies with blood vessels or eyes. More often this problem is encountered in adulthood. Sometimes even vision may not decrease, but the spots become more and more numerous.
Why do flies fly before my eyes? Let's try to figure it out today.
The importance of the symptom complex in diagnosis
Eye floaters are dark areas of oblong, sinuous or round shape that are in the field of vision and become a visual nuisance in bright light. Floaters are conventionally divided into two types:
- Idiopathic floaters
. They occur when you strain your eyes while reading books, excessive use of gadgets, or as an optical illusion. - Pathological spots in the field of vision
. Such signs are diagnostic symptoms and allow one to differentiate destructive processes in the vitreous body.
Idiopathic opacities are not dangerous, since photosensitivity processes are involved in their formation. Pathological floaters help diagnose the underlying pathology that provoked the destruction of the vitreous body.
Treatment of vitreous destruction
There are no effective conservative treatments for this condition. Today, only the relationship between the general health of the body and its individual organs, including the organ of vision, has been studied. To reduce the severity of interference in the visual field, experts recommend treatment of systemic diseases present in the body, normalization of lifestyle, streamlining of nutrition, giving up bad habits, and physical activity.
Among the surgical methods for eliminating pathology, experts call the procedure of influencing interference floating in the field of view with a laser. The laser beam breaks them into smaller fragments, which do not interfere with vision in the future. True, such an operation is not yet widespread due to the technical difficulties of performing it. In addition, before using any method of influencing the eye, the doctor first assesses the benefits and possible risks of the intervention.
Another surgical treatment method is vitrectomy. Such operations are considered serious surgical interventions. After all, floaters that interfere with vision are removed along with the vitreous body. Vitrectomy is used only in exceptional cases, as it can have serious consequences, more significant than floaters.
The doctors at our clinic have sufficient experience in treating pathologies of the vitreous body, including vitreal destruction. In the absence of a threatening condition for the patient, he will be recommended conservative therapy, which will help reduce the severity of visual interference.
In addition, thanks to the excellent technical equipment of the center, patients can be offered laser removal of flying flies. In case of retinal detachment or retinal tears, surgical treatment of the pathology will be performed. To do this, we have all the necessary equipment from the world's best manufacturers, and specialists undergo regular training in the most prestigious domestic ophthalmological clinics and abroad.
