Eye floaters: what those specks drifting across your vision are

You look at a white wall, a bright sky, or a blank document, and you notice them: small threads, dots or squiggles that drift across your vision. When you try to look straight at one, it slides away. Look away and it settles slowly, like something suspended in water.

Most people have them. Most of the time they are harmless. But there is one pattern that is not, and it is worth knowing the difference before you need it.

What you are actually seeing

The large space behind your lens is filled with a clear gel called the vitreous. Over time, parts of that gel become more liquid and small clumps of collagen form inside it. Those clumps are not on the surface of your eye and they are not in your imagination — they float in the gel and cast small shadows onto your retina at the back.

That explains the odd behaviour. You cannot look directly at a floater because it moves when your eye moves. It drifts to a stop after your eye stops. And you see them most against plain bright backgrounds, because that is when the shadow has the most contrast.

Why they become more noticeable

• Age. The gel naturally changes over decades. Floaters becoming more noticeable through your fifties and sixties is common.
• Short-sightedness. People with higher myopia tend to notice floaters earlier, because the shape of a longer eye changes how the gel sits.
• After eye surgery. Cataract surgery, for example, often makes existing floaters more visible — partly because everything else got clearer.
• Eye injury or inflammation. Both can leave debris in the gel.

A long-standing floater you have had for years, that has not changed, is usually just something you have learned to see. Your brain becomes better at ignoring it over time, which is why they seem to come and go.

The pattern that needs attention today

Get seen urgently — same day — if you notice any of the following:

• A sudden shower of new floaters, especially many small dark specks at once, rather than one or two
• Flashes of light, often like a camera flash or an arc of light at the edge of your vision, particularly in the dark
• A shadow, curtain or veil coming in from any edge of your vision
• A sudden drop in vision in one eye
• New floaters together with eye pain or redness

These can be signs that the gel is pulling away from the retina in a way that damages it. That situation is treatable, and outcomes are strongly better when it is dealt with quickly. This is not a wait-and-see symptom. Go to an eye doctor or an emergency department the same day.

Can you get rid of ordinary floaters?

There is no eye drop, vitamin or exercise that dissolves them. Rolling your eyes to move a floater out of your central vision works for a moment, and that is the extent of it. For most people the honest answer is that the floaters stay and you stop noticing them. Procedures to remove them exist but carry real risk, so they are reserved for the small number of cases where vision is genuinely impaired — that is an ophthalmologist's decision, not a retail one.

What is worth doing is getting a baseline. If someone has looked at the back of your eye once and knows what your floaters look like, any future change is far easier to judge.

Book a Vision7 eye test at your nearest Vision Express store

Our seven-step comprehensive eye exam includes a visual health exam, so the optometrist can assess your eyes and advise whether what you are seeing needs referral to an ophthalmologist. If your floaters are new or changing, say so when you book — it changes how the appointment is handled.

Ask for Shamir Opulens Exact at the counter once your prescription is confirmed. It is made to your measurements rather than cut from a standard mould, which means the correction sits exactly where your eyes look through the lens — useful for anyone who is already paying close attention to small details in their vision and does not want soft edges added on top.

Every pair comes with free lifetime ultrasonic cleaning, free lifetime custom fitting and adjustment, and a 1-year warranty.