Increase in floater over the past 6 months im only 18????

I suffer from dry eyes and have had a big increase of floaters in the eyes what should i do i sometimes get ones that flash and big ones that i only c when im outside . Ive been to the hospital and they gave me some celluvisc for the dry eyes. But what should i do about the increase in floaters please help ???

The eye has a central cavity called the Vitreous Cavity. It has the Vitreous humor, or gel in it. This stuff is produced as the eye is forming and sort of acts as the air in the balloon. It stops being made at about 8 years of age or so when the eye reaches adult size.

The gel is fairly 'thick' or gel like in young people, your age too. But in some, it'll pop off the back of the eye. Usually it just lays against the surface of the retina except way up in the front where it's attached fairly firmly. This is where it came from, where it's secreted. As we age, the gel breaks down like jello on the table. Doesn't look like a turkey after 5 hours sitting on the table...just a blob of jello.

As the vitreous breaks down, it becomes more watery. There are pockets of this liqued gel mixed in with the solid gel. As the eye moves back and forth, the gel moves differently than the fluid and you can get shearing forces that will allow the back or posterior part to detach off the back of the eye. There are some mild connections over the optic nerve, around the macula, and over retinal vessels or vessel bifurcations. When the gel detaches, called a Posterior Vitreous Detachment, one can sometimes see the little foot plates. They cast a shadow onto the retina. We see floaters.

If the gel pulls on the retina a lot, the retina picks up this tugging as a light flash or photopsia. If you tear the retina or a surface vessel or a retinal vessel, you will see LOTS of little floaters. Some people say lots of dots. Other words include haze, smoke, fog, lots of dots, dozens of dots, hundreds of dots, hair, angel hair, cobwebs, spider webs...

This is because the gel clumps against itself and becoming bigger it becomes visible. Sometimes the little red cells line up along the collagen fibrils creating the spiderweb or cobweb like forms.

The lots of dots thing is bothersome as it may mean you have a tear. The tugging may also indicate a tear. IF you note that you cannot see in an area of your vision in that eye such as the right side, or the bottom or the top or ?, you should go see an ophthalmologist as you probably have a retinal tear which allowed the now fluid gel to get under the retina which allows it to float. This is called a retinal detachment.

The signs are new floaters, light flashes, and a field defect.

You don't seem to have that.

There is really no reason to treat floaters. There are some people who get to a point where the things are driving them crazy and they're going to jump off a bridge. When I hear that complaint, we go ahead with the surgery. Have done that only twice in the last 25 years, so most people just live with the things once they know what they are. And they do eventually go away or move to the side so they aren't noticed much. Then on some rare occasion, there they are again, just came back to say hello, and off they go again for another 5 years.....

Floaters in the eye happen to us all. Generally they are nothing to worry about unless your sight is really bad. Medication is the best way to deal with it, there is a surgical procedure they can do but there are big risks associated with such procedure.