You use your eyes to guide you through life, so it can seem pretty scary when you encounter an eye floater, little specs or globs that seem to float across your vision. If you try to look at them, you may that they float to where you cannot. The first question is always, are eye floaters dangerous?
The initial answer is: no. Everyone has eye floaters from time to time. These occasional specks or floaters are not dangerous, though they can be annoying. They are not a medical emergency, though you should still have regular check ups with an optometrist, who will be able to spot many potential problems with your eyes that you might have missed.
However, there are some instances where eye floaters are serious and require prompt medical attention. One sign that your may have a more significant problem is an increases in eye floaters. Another is flashes of light. And of course, if you find yourself having vision problems – particularly if you think your field of vision is narrowing – you should see a doctor immediately.
These more serious eye floaters can be caused by several scary condition that need fast treatment. A tear in your retina, for example, would cause these symptoms and without repair, may lead to complete retina detachment.
Yet another potentially serious cause is bleeding, somewhere behind your eyes. Still, you should be calm and remember that there are less serious causes. Sometimes, it is simply due to age; as your body begins to mature, changes in and around your eye causes tiny clumps of eye jelly to float into your field of vision.
Because there are so many varying causes, ranging from very serious to only mildly so, only a qualified doctor should determine whether your eye floaters are serious.
