Eye floaters appear as small spots that drift through your field of vision. They may stand out when you look at something bright, like white paper or a blue sky.
Floaters earn their name by moving around in your eye. They tend to dart away when you try to focus on them. They may be annoying, but shouldn’t interfere with your sight. Once you get them, they usually don’t go away, but you can learn to live with them and they usually become less noticeable over time.
They come in many different shapes and forms:
- Threadlike strands, which can be almost see-through
- Black or grey dots
- Squiggly lines
- Cobwebs
- Rings
A large floater can cast a slight shadow over your vision, but this tends to happen only in certain types of light. However, the arrival of many or new floaters, particularly when associated with flashes or a large shadow of reduced vision, could indicate a retinal detachment. Retinal detachments must be attended to by an ophthalmologist as a matter of urgency.