Floaters are spots, specks, or various other shapes that appear to be floating before your eyes. They are actually shadows cast on the retina by irregularities within the vitreous (the jelly-like substance which fills the interior of the eye). While normally harmless (in terms of physical health), floaters can be extremely annoying and sometimes cause considerable emotional distress to those who suffer from them. Floaters are actually not all that uncommon, particularly in people over 40-50 years of age, or myopic people. Floaters do sometimes indicate more serious underlying problems, and the appearance of new floaters warrants a visit to the ophthalmologist.
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My story

I am a 20-year old male living in eastern Canada. I developed severe vitreous floaters in both eyes in December 1995 as I was finishing my first term of university. I have astigmatism in my right eye; the left eye is fine (other than the cursed floaters). After a great deal of thought, the only thing I can imagine that might have caused the floaters is a series of violent sneezes I had during the night before I first saw them. When I woke up the next morning, I noticed some black flecks hanging before my vision. After cleaning my glasses failed to get rid of the spots, I thought maybe I had some dust on my eye. After washing my eyes with water, the specks remained. I found this extremely disturbing - particularly when I went outside (it was a sunny, winter day with snow on the ground - horrible conditions for those with floaters). There were not just a few black spots, but my entire visual field seemed obscured by various shapes, some resembling long strings, or cobwebs, others more like clumps of gel.

Initially I was extremely disturbed by the floaters. A visit to the ophthalmologist, of course, did nothing ("don't think about them - pretend you don't see them"). I could barely stand to go outside at all, or around any fluorescent lighting. My curtains were always drawn. I discovered some material about floaters on the internet; it was reading these stories of other people's experiences, realizing that I was not alone in my suffering, that helped most of all. It took about a year, but eventually I stabilized; I still have all the floaters - but notice them a lot less than those first months after their sudden onset. Most prominent are a long, multi-jointed segment in my left eye, which has a loose string-like attachment that hangs and twirls. In my right eye the most noticeable floater is a cluster of crystalline material surrounded by a less bright, gelatinous glob. I am fortunate in that I have been able to adapt reasonably well - I still avoid reading non-newsprint pages in direct sunlight, and a few other things but overall things are nowhere near as bad as I had imagined the rest of my life might be when they first appeared. One problem that remains is that I have difficulty using microscopes - as I discovered in an undergraduate microbiology lab, for some reason, looking through a microscope lens greatly amplifies the visibility of the floaters - sort of like squinting does, except a lot worse. I am beginning medical school this fall - I hope there is not too much microscope work involved! (Actually, I'm sure I'll get by - it will just be very annoying.)

I never tried any of the various herbal and/or alternative remedies that have been proposed, and I never got the point where I would have considered the risk of a vitrectomy. I think the only way to really "stop seeing them" is to try and focus on other parts of your life, and really avoid obsessing over them (I know first-hand how difficult this is).
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Stories from others

These are a few of the accounts of others' experiences that I read on a now-defunct message board back in 1996. For me, realizing that there were others who suffered as I had was the single most important step to adjustment.

Coping strategies from a physician with floaters
Floaters - we are not alone!
Floaters and my experiences with them
Line of sight floaters
Possible Treatment For Floaters (alternative medicine-type proposal)
Vitreous replacement and macular hole surgery

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Links

Eye Disorders - Floaters - very nice page by someone who is writing a book about coping with floaters
Flashes, Floaters and Vitreous Detachment - Tigard Vision Center
Vitreous floaters laser treatment - South Florida Eye Clinic
Flashes and Floaters - summary info from an optometrist
Spots Before Your Eyes - info from another doctor
Vitreous Disease Fact Sheet - from The Schepens Eye Research Institute at Harvard
Vitreous Detachment & Floaters - from a commercial medical site
Eye Diseases and Conditions - site of the American Academy of Ophthalmology

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References

Here is a list of journal articles dealing with floaters and associated conditions. Click the link to view an abstract of the article where available. Most of these journals should be available in a medical library (medical schools, large hospitals).

1. Consultation section. A 50-year-old woman with the onset of "floaters". J Cataract Refract Surg 22, 515-25 (1996).

2. Akiba, J. Prevalence of posterior vitreous detachment in high myopia. Ophthalmology 100, 1384-8 (1993).

3. Boldfrey, E.E. Risk of retinal tears in patients with vitreous floaters. Am J Ophthalmol 96, 783-7 (1983).

4. Boldfrey, E.E. Vitreous cells as an indicator of retinal tears in asymptomatic or not recently symptomatic eyes. Am J Ophthalmol 123, 263-4 (1997).

5. Boldfrey, E.E. Spontaneous vitreous hemorrhage. Ann Ophthalmol 14, 268-70 (1982).

6. Byer, N. E. Natural history of posterior vitreous detachment with early management as the premier line of defense against retinal detachment. Ophthalmology 101, 1503-13; discussion 1513-4 (1994).

7. Byer, N. E. What happens to untreated asymptomatic retinal breaks, and are they affected by posterior vitreous detachment? Ophthalmology 105, 1045-9; discussion 1049-50 (1998).

8. Dayan, M. R., Jayamanne, D. G., Andrews, R. M. and Griffiths, P. G. Flashes and floaters as predictors of vitreoretinal pathology: is follow-up necessary for posterior vitreous detachment? Eye 10, 456-8 (1996).

9. Diamond, J. P. When are simple flashes and floaters ocular emergencies? Eye 6, 102-4 (1992).

10. Hikichi, T. and Trempe, C. L. Relationship between floaters, light flashes, or both, and complications of posterior vitreous detachment. Am J Ophthalmol 117, 593-8 (1994).

11. Hikichi, T. and Trempe, C. L. Ocular conditions associated with posterior vitreous detachment in young patients. Ophthalmic Surg Lasers 27, 782-6 (1996).

12. Kakehashi, A., Inoda, S., Shimizu, Y., Makino, S. and Shimizu, H. Predictive value of floaters in the diagnosis of posterior vitreous detachment. Am J Ophthalmol 125, 113-5 (1998).

13. Laibovitz, R. A. The vitreous and vitreous floaters. Understanding a common visual complaint. Postgrad Med 75, 64-7 (1984).

14. Linder, B. J. Posterior vitreous detachment: a possible complication of noncontact tonometry. Ann Ophthalmol 25, 54-5 (1993).

15. Miller, B., Miller, H. and Ryan, S. J. Experimental vitreous syneresis. Arch Ophthalmol 103, 1385-8 (1985).

16. Morse, P. H. Symptomatic floaters as a clue to vitreoretinal disease. Ann Ophthalmol 7, 865-8 (1975).

17. Murakami, K., Jalkh, A. E., Avila, M. P., Trempe, C. L. and Schepens, C. L. Vitreous floaters. Ophthalmology 90, 1271-6 (1983).

18. Okubo, A., Okubo, Y., Kanagami, S., Sawa, M. and Shimizu, H. A new method for obtaining biomicroscopic photographs of the vitreous. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol 225, 85-8 (1987).

19. Olsen, O. J. Posterior vitreous detachment. J Am Optom Assoc 52, 499-501 (1981).

20. Potter, J. W. and Blume, A. J. Location and characteristics of the prepapillary annular opacity. J Am Optom Assoc 56, 386-9 (1985).

21. Potter, J. W., Jones, W. L. and Crutchfield, M. Vision symptoms with asteroid bodies in the vitreous. J Am Optom Assoc 55, 419-22 (1984).

22. Robertson, D. M. Vitreous floaters and flashing lights. Vitreous collapse and sequelae. Minn Med 55, 314-7 (1972).

23. Sasano, K., Ando, F., Nagasaka, T., Kidokoro, T. and Kawamoto, F. [A case of uveitis due to gnathostoma migration into the vitreous cavity]. Nippon Ganka Gakkai Zasshi 98, 1136-40 (1994).

24. Sebag, J. Age-related changes in human vitreous structure. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol 225, 89-93 (1987).

25. Sebag, J. Abnormalities of human vitreous structure in diabetes. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol 231, 257-60 (1993).

26. Sebag, J. and Balazs, E. A. Morphology and ultrastructure of human vitreous fibers. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 30, 1867-71 (1989).

27. Serpetopoulos, C. Optical explanation of the gradual disappearance of flying dots in posterior vitreous detachment. Surv Ophthalmol 42, 92-4 (1997).

28. Serpetopoulos, C. N. and Korakitis, R. A. An optical explanation of the entoptic phenomenon of 'clouds' in posterior vitreous detachment. Ophthalmic Physiol Opt 18, 446-51 (1998).

29. Stirpe, M. and Heimann, K. Vitreous changes and retinal detachment in highly myopic eyes. Eur J Ophthalmol 6, 50-8 (1996).

30. Takano, M., Sugiura, N., Yonemoto, J. and Ohno, S. Vitreous hemorrhage associated with acute posterior vitreous detachment- -a case report. Jpn J Ophthalmol 37, 199-203 (1993).

31. Tsai, W. F., Chen, Y. C. and Su, C. Y. Treatment of vitreous floaters with neodymium YAG laser. Br J Ophthalmol 77, 485-8 (1993).

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Please email me with your experiences, information or comments.