Do you see spots floating before your eyes? Beware, this is what they warn

At some point in our lives we have noticed that in our visual field there are some white spots or worms that in the sight of others, no matter how much we tell them where they are, they cannot detect it, and even less so if we see ourselves in a mirror.

It is presumed that almost 70% of people have had that feeling that more than being a “trash” it can be something serious. These spots are called ‘floaters’, although the ancient Romans called them “fly floaters”. They may be of greater concern in the elderly.

They are an eye defect that manifests itself in vision as a set of spots, dots or filaments (sometimes in the form of a spider web). And, although it may seem so, it is not about optical illusions. They are really there, inside your eye.

Where do “flying flies” come from?

In front of your eye is the cornea, and behind it is the iris (the colored halo) and in the center of it is the pupil (the dark spot). All of them make up the anterior chamber of the eye. And there is also a transparent liquid called aqueous humor.

The retina is a layer of light-sensitive cells. When the neurons that make up the retina are excited by light, they send a signal to the brain via the optic nerve. The signal consists of information about what the eye has registered.

But between the surface of the retina and the back of the lens is a sea of ​​transparent, gelatinous fluid called the vitreous humor.

Unlike the aqueous humor, the vitreous is never replenished, we will die with the same amount of vitreous humor that we were born with. This means that if any foreign bodies (blood or other cells) reach it, they will stay there.

As our age advances, the vitreous substance becomes more and more liquid. And when this happens, the solid particles that are in it can clump together.

When these tiny particles pass through the eye and block light, they cast tiny shadows on the retina.

These shadows are the spots that we see suspended in our field of vision, as if they were flies.

For some ophthalmologists in the United Kingdom, this condition is considered benign, as they may eventually disappear or most people get used to living with them.

But for another important group of ophthalmologists, this phenomenon is more serious than it seems.

1. If the appearance is frequent in older people, it could represent a sign of progressive retinal detachment, whose most serious consequence is blindness. Although there are laser treatments for this, they are not yet 100% approved by the FDA (United States Food and Drug Administration), so their treatment is not yet safe.

2. Another way to treat them is by changing the natural fluid in our retinas (vitreous humor) for a saline solution. Obviously this represents a risk of cataracts, so this treatment is used when the ‘flying flies’ have seriously attacked the vision.

Our eyes are very important and sometimes we underestimate those annoying spots, because they are temporary. If you haven’t seen your ophthalmologist in a long time, don’t wait until the last minute and start taking care of your eyes right now.

Important: It should be clarified that the Bioguide does not give medical advice or prescribe the use of techniques as a form of treatment for physical or mental problems without the advice of a doctor, either directly or indirectly. In the case of applying any information on this site for that purpose, the Bioguide assumes no responsibility for those acts. The site is intended only to provide information of a general nature to aid in the pursuit of personal growth and development.