Are floaters bad?

Im 16 and i have had floaters for as long as i can remember. I recently went to the omptometrist and she diagnosed them. I thought every1 had them. Are they a bad sign? I'm also near sighted, is there any correlation between the two?

Floaters in most cases are very normal and occur very commonly in people that are nearsighted !
I see floaters as well! Everytime I look at a plain background or when I look at the sky!
"Floaters are actually tiny clumps of gel or cells inside the vitreous, the clear jelly-like fluid that fills the inside of your eye.
Floaters may look like specks, strands, webs or other shapes. Actually, what you are seeing are the shadows of floaters cast on the retina, the light-sensitive part of the eye."

Floaters are USUALLY quite normal and can accompany a headache.
If you suddenly see new floaters, or eye floaters accompanied by flashes of light or peripheral vision loss, it could indicate serious conditions such as diabetic retinopathy; vascular abnormalities such as retinal hemorrhages or carotid artery disease, or the beginning of a retinal detachment. The retina can tear if the shrinking vitreous gel pulls away from the wall of the eye. This sometimes causes a small amount of bleeding in the eye that may appear as new floaters. You should see your eye doctor immediately
There are no medications available that are effective in treating most floaters. Patients with floaters due to inflammatory eye diseases may be helped by medicines to treat the inflammation; however, the floaters may remain after the treatment. Although floaters can be bothersome, most people learn to ignore them. A vitrectomy or laser treatment can be done to treat floaters but they would have to be pretty serious to do so!

They can be annoying but best thing to do is ignore them and they go away :) What I do is when I start to see them I do not focus on them... I just focus on the objects I am looking at and then I do not even notice the floaters anymore!

Hope that helps a bit hun :)

call the optometrist and ask about the diagnosis. next time, do not leave a doctor's office until you understand everything that is said to you.

no correlation and they won't hurt you. i had them for years and one day, they were gone.

If you have an excessive amount of them this can mean possibly a detaching retina. If you really want answers then go see an ophthalmologist.

ILoveMySon has hit the button right on the nose.

I too have seen those little squiggly things, moderate myope here (-7.75 and -8.25 glasses, -7.00 and -7.50 contacts)...usually on a one color background.

The floaters you want to watch out for is an increase or change in the shape, size, color, if they are accompanied by pain suddenly, or a dark curtain or spiderweb. If you notice any change in them, that can signify a serious condition going on inside your eye that needs immediate ophthalmologic assessment (or if during non-office hours, a call ahead to your local ER, tell them your symptoms and see if they can have an on call ophthalmologist on the way to see you).

Some conditions that have immediate onset in the number or character of floaters or dark curtains are retinal holes, tears, or detachments, posterior vitreous detachments, diabetic retinopathy, diabetic vitreous hemorrhages. The most likely people to get these conditions are diabetics or someone who has had eye trauma. Retinal detachments can happen in severely myopic patients who have a known case of myopic lattice degeneration (like me...I'm at a higher risk later in life), older patients who have other circulatory conditions.

Being 16, and recently being seen by your optometrist, I would say you're not at risk at the current time unless your optometrist said otherwise.