Eye floaters and Symptoms

Eye floaters are spots in your vision. Eye floaters may look like black or gray specks, strings or cobwebs that drift about when you move your eyes.

Most eye floaters are caused by age-related changes that occur as the jelly-like substance (vitreous) inside your eyes becomes more liquid. When this happens, microscopic fibers within the vitreous tend to clump together and can cast tiny shadows on your retina, which you may see as eye floaters.

If you notice a sudden increase in the number of eye floaters, contact an eye specialist immediately — especially if you also see flashes of light or lose your peripheral vision. These can be symptoms of an emergency that requires prompt attention.

Symptoms

Symptoms of eye floaters may include:

1. Spots in your vision that may look like dark specks or knobby, transparent strings of floating material
2. Spots that move when you move your eyes, so when you try to look at them, they move quickly out of your visual field
3. Spots that are most noticeable when you look at a plain bright background, such as a blue sky or a white wall
4. Spots that eventually settle down and drift out of the line of vision