morenuf

You are seeing phenomena that are called Floaters. These are cellular
protein debris actually floating in the fluids inside your eyeball. Most
everyone has them to some degree usually very minor and they can happen
at any age, more likely when you are older or have had major eye
surgery. They can be caused by some eye diseases.

If you suddenly have a great many of them, or several very large ones, a
visit to an ophthalmologist is in order. The doctor can determine if
retina disease is present.

There are some retina diseases that can cause tissue/cellular sloughing
off the retina into the vitreous humor (the fluid inside the eyeball in
the region between the lens and the retina--- aqueous humor is the name
for the fluid between the lens and cornea in front of the eye). Retina
disease is very serious and must be caught early to try to limit damage
to the retina.

In most cases, the floaters are minor nuisance. Nothing can be done
about them and they are harmless, just annoying. Some do reabsorb, but
some linger for many years.

You can't really "see" them as we normally call it optically as these
are behind the lens between the lens and the retina, not in front of
the lens where we do focus on objects. What you are "seeing" are
diffraction patterns of the light scatter on the retina.

Floaters are very small, microscopic in fact. The shapes can be fibrous
or filament/hairlike, circular or cell shaped, rod like, dark spots, or
fibrous bunches. All these do actually float around, spin in 3D, etc.
they are most noticeable against a light colored background, blue sky,
white page, etc.

I have had 3 transplants and had many floaters post transplant. Some
were very annoying interfering with letters on the printed page. I had
to perform some outrageous gyrations to get them out of the way to read.

Morenuf

repeating decimal

in article morenuf-3E0089.22233902092003@clmboh...olumbus.rr.com,

I am not a health professional, but I can do some thinking and observing for
myself.

I had ocular migraine from time to time. Some of the manifestations were
small temporary scotomas that might fit the described spots without
diffraction halos. It is hard to know just what someone else sees.

I was keenly aware of these spots. I worked with lasers and was concerned
that the dark pinpoints might have been caused by laser damage. Sometimes I
could "see" them. Sometimes I was aware of them only because they blocked
out periods or even a letter "o" while I was reading. The perception was
different from that of the shimmering often associated with ocular migraine.

I also have had my share of floaters. There are just the ones there all the
time with twisted threads working in and out of central vision. There also
are the dark large ones associated with vitreous detachment. Fortunately, I
have never, and never want to, seen floaters associated with retinal
detachment.

Whether floaters or migraine, I don't think there is much that can be done.
Check with a good ophthalmologist who knows more than I do to get peace of
mind, or possible treatment. Ocular migraine is more within the purview of
neurology rather than ophthalmology.

I also wonder what the connection is between unspecified transplants and
floaters.

Bill

jimlawton

Sounds ike a floater - just age usually ... see http://www.floaters.net/fworld.html Jim