Why do I often see small black spots in front of my eyes? Will it make me blind? These people should pay special attention to this

Expert of this article: Xu Qibin, associate chief physician, deputy director of ophthalmology department, Zhejiang Provincial Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine

Nowadays, people's lives are occupied by various electronic screens, and their eyes are under a great burden.

Many people usually have this feeling: there are small black shadows floating in front of their eyes, flying around like mosquitoes. Therefore, they begin to worry about the health of their eyes.

Such patients often come to the ophthalmology clinic for treatment. In most cases, patients are diagnosed with floaters.

What are floaters? How do they occur? How can they be treated and prevented? Let’s take a look.

What are floaters?

Floaters are medically called "vitreous opacities". When they occur, black shadows in the form of dots, lines, or strips appear in front of the patient's eyes. Some patients may feel like there are mosquitoes flying in front of their eyes. As the name suggests, floaters are called this. The disease can occur in one or both eyes.

Clinically, floaters are divided into physiological floaters and pathological floaters. Physiological floaters are mostly caused by vitreous degeneration, liquefaction and other degenerative lesions. Pathological floaters are mainly caused by vitreous inflammation, retinal detachment, intraocular tumors, etc.

When floaters occur, the patient will mainly experience black shadows floating in front of their eyes, and they will move with the rotation of the eyeball. The shape of the black shadow varies from person to person, and is generally more obvious in bright places, but not easy to find in dark places. When vitreous liquefaction is accompanied by posterior vitreous detachment, the patient will also find that there are flashes in front of their eyes. This is because the vitreous and retinal interface are separated, forming posterior vitreous detachment, which pulls on the retina and causes light stimulation.

In addition, the more terrible thing is retinal detachment. It is not just floaters, but the patient will also find a black shadow covering the eyes, which will not move. For example, if the upper retina is detached, the lower part will be invisible and the vision will drop sharply.

Who is more likely to get floaters?

Most people will suffer from floaters. Patients aged 40 or 50 years old are prone to floaters because of the obvious liquefaction of the vitreous body, which is aggravated by physical fatigue or strenuous exercise or physical work.

Myopic patients, especially those with high myopia, are more likely to suffer from floaters. Most myopia is axial myopia, which means that the longer the eye axis, the higher the degree, and the larger the eyeball, but the volume of the vitreous is limited. Therefore, the vitreous of patients with high myopia is more likely to liquefy, showing more obvious floaters.

Other patients such as those with eye trauma, diabetes, hypertension, uveitis, and fundus disease are also more likely to suffer from floaters. Pathological floaters are caused by vitreous hemorrhage caused by vitreous inflammation or retinal hemorrhage that penetrates into the vitreous, resulting in vitreous hemorrhage.

How to treat eye floaters?

Once floaters occur, it is recommended to visit an ophthalmologist as soon as possible. After an ophthalmologist's examination (usually requiring slit lamp, eye ultrasound, fundus examination, etc.), the type of floaters is determined and symptomatic treatment is given.

Physiological floaters, generally speaking, as long as you get enough rest, keep your body and mind happy, and don't fatigue your body and eyes, they will generally get better and stabilize after recuperation. Currently, there is vitreous laser ablation in ophthalmology, which can be used for laser ablation of floaters.

Pathological floaters need to be treated according to the primary cause, after the cause is removed, such as anti-inflammation, surgery to flatten the retina, etc.

How to prevent floaters?

1. Love and protect your eyes starting from an early age to prevent and control myopia and avoid complications caused by high myopia.

2. Patients with high myopia are advised to undergo fundus examination every six months to one year, and timely laser treatment should be performed for potential degenerative lesions and dry holes, and strenuous exercise should be avoided as much as possible.

3. Patients with diabetes and hypertension should control their primary diseases and consult ophthalmologists regularly to avoid diabetic and hypertensive fundus diseases.

4. Avoid eye injuries.

5. Exercise, get enough sleep, pay attention to rest, avoid excessive fatigue, and improve resistance.

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