What to Know About Eye Floaters (2025)

If you ever notice pesky dark strands that may resemble anything from a simple speck to a cobweb drifting across your vision, what you're probably seeing is what's known as an eye floater.

Eye floaters are formed when some of the vitreous (the jelly inside of your eye) clumps together. What you're actually seeing is the shadow this makes on the retina, the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye. While eye floaters are common as you get older, they are usually nothing to worry about. At other times, though, they may be a sign of something serious that requires immediate attention.

Symptoms of Eye Floaters

Every floater tends to be unique in shape. You may particularly notice them on a bright clear day.

Symptoms of floaters include:

• Spots, threads, clumps, cobwebs, or other strands in your line of sight that may be more noticeable on light backgrounds or a blank wall
• Shapes following the movement of your eyes
• Shapes moving across the eye even when it is still

Causes of Eye Floaters

Floaters don't just come out of nowhere. Eye floaters occur when the vitreous inside the eye starts to shrink due to aging. Some of the strands of vitreous may then clump together. When these strands drift across the eye, they create shadows on the retina, they are called floaters.

They can also be caused by:

• A posterior vitreous detachment (PVD)
• A retinal tear
• A retinal detachment

When the vitreous starts to shrink with age, it can pull away from the back of the eye. This is called a posterior vitreous detachment. It is also likely to occur earlier in those who are extremely nearsighted (meaning that they can focus on near objects but objects are blurrier farther away).

Floaters can occur if a posterior vitreous detachment doesn't happen cleanly, as well. During the process, a hole can form in the retina, or there can be a retinal detachment, in which the light-sensitive retina itself pulls away from the back of the eye. If blood cells are released into the vitreous jelly, that can cause new floaters.

When a retinal detachment happens, there can be a large number of new floaters and flashes of light.

People who've had a cataract (cloudy lens in their eye) removed, have inflammation inside the eye (uveitis), and those who have diabetes (who either don't make enough insulin to regulate sugar in the bloodstream or the cells just aren't responsive to the insulin) also are prone to getting floaters.

How to Treat Eye Floaters

Commonly, ophthalmologists (physicians specializing in eye conditions) will take a wait-and-see approach with eye floaters (unless they are caused by an underlying condition). With time, floaters can sometimes settle in the eye out of the line of sight or become less noticeable as people either ignore or get used to them.

At-Home Options

While natural remedies will not rid the eye of existing floaters, they can help in learning to deal with their presence and help make them less noticeable. People who experience floaters , or who want to promote good eye health in general, can try:

• Moving the floaters out of the line of sight: Move your eyes up and down to move the fluid in your eye and shift the floater so it is no longer in our direct line of vision.
• Reducing bright light: Floaters become more apparent in environments with bright light or when looking at screen with a bright background. Wearing sunglasses with ultraviolet protection, decreasing the glare from a computer screen, and switching from overhead lighting to lamps (while maintaining adequate light for reading and other activities) might help minimize their appearance.
• Preventing eye strain: Resting your eyes, mitigating stress, and taking regular breaks from the computer, phone screen, and other electronic devices can also be helpful in minimizing the appearance of eye floaters.
• Maintaining a healthy lifestyle: Proper blood circulation, which affects overall eye health, might be supported by a diet rich in foods containing vitamin-A, such as carrots and sweet potatoes. Conversely, smoking negatively affects blood circulation.

Medical Treatments

The two potential treatments that your ophthalmologist may recommend if you have floaters that impact one's vision include:

• YAG laser vitreolysis, in which a laser is used to break eye floaters apart into much smaller, less noticeable pieces and comes with a warning of retinal damage
• Vitrectomy, in which the vitreous jelly of the eye with the floaters is removed and replaced with saline (or saltwater) solution
  

A medical provider might perform a vitrectomy if a vitreous hemorrhage, in which tiny blood vessels in the eye break, is severe or not clearing up on its own. A vitreous hemorrhage can be associated with a torn or detached retina or caused by the abnormal growth of blood vessels or injury or trauma to the eye.

Complications and Risk Factors Associated With Eye Floaters

Floaters occur most often in people over age 50. Fortunately, in most cases (nine out of 10), they are not a sign of damage to the retina.

But while floaters can be totally harmless, they can also signal that something serious has happened that can threaten your sight. Symptoms to watch for include the following:

• The appearance of many new floaters.
• You see flashes that look like lightning strikes or bright spots, much like seeing stars when you hit your head.
• You see a shadow out of the corner of your eye in your peripheral (side) vision.
• It appears as if a curtain is suddenly covering part of your vision.
  

When to See a Healthcare Provider

If you notice even just one of the symptoms above, it's important to immediately contact your ophthalmologist or go to the emergency room. These are signs that you may have experienced a retinal tear or detachment.

The good news is that if you do have a tear or retinal detachment, this can be successfully treated surgically if it is done right away. But if you wait, it may be too late and you may permanently lose vision in the eye.

If you notice any bleeding in the eye, possibly along with new floaters, you should immediately contact your ophthalmologist or visit the emergency room. If the retina is either torn or detached, you may have broken blood vessels.

Bleeding can be a sign of a vitreous hemorrhage. Blood in the vitreous can block light from reaching the retina, and vision will be poor. If there is enough blood, it may even block vision completely.

Summary

With floaters, you may notice squiggly lines, simple specks, or cobwebs drifting across your visual field. These are caused by the jelly inside the eye clumping together and casting shadows on the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye.

Floaters can develop with age; often they are simply be annoying and go away with time. But at other times, they can threaten your vision. A lot of new floaters, along with flashes of light, can indicate a retinal tear or detachment, which needs to be treated right away.