Monday, November 08, 2004

I see dots and squigglies

For the past few days, I've had something in my eye (my one good eye at that). I can see the darn little dots and squigglies throughout the entire day. It's almost like looking through a camera when you get the little dust things in the lens and need to wipe it clean, except this is my every day, every hour, every minute. I've tried flushing out my eye, rubbing it, examining it, but no luck. I've managed to deal with it the entire weekend, but today on my drive into work, the grey skies made the black squiggly even more bothersome and my computer screen also highlighted the annoyance. I finally made an appointment with my optometrist to see what was up, and after some careful examination, I was told that I had a floater in my eye and would just 'get used to it' eventually. Get used to it? Hrmph.

27 comments:

Cris said...

Ugh, I feel your pain or annoyance rather. I recently went to my optometrist too because of the same thing - floaters. I remember seeing a few floating strands when I was younger if I let my eyes go out of focus, as weird as that sounds. But this time around I was actually freaked out quite a bit because there was a pronounced change where I woke up one day a couple weeks ago and began seeing multiple floating dark spots.

My optometrist said that the floaters are particles formed at birth in the vitreous, liquid portion of the eye. Apparently, they move around in the eye and had moved into my line of sight. He said the particles harden over the years, so as light enters my eye, the particles cast shadows on my retina. He said this is normal and that the floaters should hopefully eventually move out of my line of sight. It's gotten better, but I can still see the damn things here and there... I hope it gets better for you too.

Anonymous said...

I was wondering if the floating things are a sign of anything else that could be wrong? I have them all the time and im 31. They are driving me crazy :(

Anonymous said...

When I was young I remember seeing only 2 dots close to each other now I have lines & dots everywhere. I wish no one had these problems but, at the same time I'm glad I'm not alone. I'm thinking of seeing a doctor. Has anyone talked to a doctor? I'm very curious to hear what he said. thanks guys.

Anonymous said...

I have the same thing and have had it for over 10 years now. I also remember seeing a few small dots as a young child but I get the squiggles and such now too. My eye doctor said the same thing. It's not a real problem unless it begins getting worse very rapidly.

Anonymous said...

i've seen these my entire life. i'm a teenager now, but i did go to the doctor when i was really young. The stupid doctor's diagnosis was that i was making it up to get attention. so yeah, i still don't know whats wrong with me, but i'm SO glad that i'm not the only one who has it. I see dots everywhere, all the time.

Anonymous said...

Found this while searching the net about the annoying dots/lines in my site.
I was also told by my optometrist that it's normal. It's getting more and more annoying now. I can see them while I'm typing this and while I'm driving.
I'm Asian, male, 31 and 10 years ago the dots weren't as prominant.
I hope it goes away or doesn't develop into anything serious.

Anonymous said...

Until I researched this, I thought that I was the only one who had this. I'm only 17 and I see this everyday, all day, even at night time when I go to sleep. It's weird though, when I look to the right the dots will move to the right. It's kind of hard to believe that this is an ordinary thing that happens to people. If it was nobody would worry about it. Right?

Anonymous said...

I have them as well. I kept looking up different macular diseases and such. I guess I'm okay according to you all. I also wear glasses. Does this have anything to do with the floaters?

Anonymous said...

i deal with them too. they starting getting more pronounced after i wear my glasses for a long period of time, or while driving.

Anonymous said...

In my right I I see little dots and squiggy lines floating around as well. There is one dot that appeared right in the middle of my right eye. it goes and comes back. I never notived it until now. Not sure if the artificial tears my eye doctor recommended is causing this. I could be wrong but the floaters were more noticeable after I started using the Allergen artificail tears. Has anyone experienced any issues with this product. For now I will stop using this product.

Anonymous said...

hope this helps I'm glad I'm not the only one dealing with this annoyance

http://www.allaboutvision.com/conditions/spotsfloats.htm

Anonymous said...

I thought I was alone in the universe on this one until I googled "I see dots"

I thought I was seeing ghosts or was going utterly insane.

Thanks for clearing that up.

Anonymous said...

I am very young and I also searched this up on google and I was wondering do older adults get it or is it kids too? (I never saw this before)

Anonymous said...

Yeah, 17 and I get squigglies and one annoying dot in my right eye. It's very pronounced against a bright computer screen =/ It goes away for a little bit if I look around in circles for a bit, I can shake it out of my field of vision. Try it out.

Anonymous said...

I have been one to disttort my own realaity, by using such things, and have used such things to prevent worse things from happening, I have discovered u can shake them away, and
that you can program your eyes to see past them buy Stareing at a candle for awhile and then closing your eyes and concentrate on the spots of light
from the candle as long as you can, what this dose is to allow you to refocus your eyes when haveing a problem with these squigglies.
and sometimes its better to just try and see in the darkest possible light, it naterally helps your eyes look past them, if not just for awhile.

Sabina Huq said...

I suppose I'm supposed to feel relieved that this is a common enough problem, but are we supposed to just live with it? Why does it happen, how long does it stay for and can it lead to serious problems? When I woke up this morning, I saw some dancing black dots, almost like pepper particles that danced around in my left eye as I looked around. I thought I was having some bizarre type of migraine. I guess I do feel relieved that I'm not the only one suffering from this, but hopefully the doctor can help me understand why it happens. Don't leave it. Go get checked out. It's all too easy for a doctor to say "yeah, they're just floaters, you'll get used to it" but everyone's different and you should be examined just to make sure it's nothing serious. Good luck to you all...

Anonymous said...

I've seen them all my life as well, but always thought them beautiful. I went to a doctor at a young age age and they said it was about 1 in every 2 million that's born with this condition. honestly, i feel a bit sorry for people that can't see them

FRANK said...

i see transparent (white) threads and white shooting dots everywhere and sometimes when im doing stuff i see a shower of the dots out of no where and then they go away
does this happen to anyone else?

Anonymous said...

Oh wow, I'm so glad I'm not the only one! I thought there was something really wrong! I'm only 15, and I know what you all mean. When I was three I can remember sitting in my mums room, looking at the windows, and long transparent squiggles would travel across my left eye. I thought I was unique (haha). But recently I've been seeing a single dot, which varies from time to time. At first I thought it was just lights reflecting into my eyes... I hope you all feel better! Good luck!

Anonymous said...

i've been googling this now and then for a while. i am now 51, and i've seen all of the above described things all of my life. it has been better and worse at times, but i am really tired of it, and it gotten slightly worse as i get older. i would like to find a way to get rid of them, they are no longer beautiful to me!

Anonymous said...

we see a little bit more than floaters you and i
yes we do have some floaters but we also see sparkle vision or static vision also know as visual snow
what we see is if you are looking in a bright area such as the sky or something as such these little shooting stars that if your like me we can actually focus our eye on and at times out of no where we see a VERY VERY clear version of them like seeing shooting stars for a brief moment
it can be brought on by something such as a sneeze, being tired, light headed or just out of nowhere
now ive gone to all kinds of doctors you name it ive seen them
and they all told me that i was fine
im gonna go one last time to a neurologist (hopefully a good one) that knows the term "visual snow" and maybe they can help
i dont have my hopes to high up because ive tired and tried but it just seems like something that we are gonna have to deal with
but ive also heard that there are some kind of injections that neurologist do that may help, so hey yeah never know
so maybe you might wanna go see a neurologist and maybe just maybe they will understand what we are talking about
but if not just remain calm, enjoy the beauty and wonders that this world has to offer and thank god that we are not blind
but if anyone does have any more info on visual snow im sure if anyone else is like me on the subject we would like to know
so good luck and god bless

Anonymous said...

Yeah I'm only 15 and this has been happening to me in both eyes for the last few years. Glad to know I'm not the only one. It is really hard to live with. I also have tinnitus which is a loud ringing noise in my ears. For both things I went to a lot of doctors and was told by all of them that I have to live with it.

Unknown said...

When i was younger i always thought they were normal. I didn't talk about it till i happen to ask my best friend years later. He of course didn't see it and thought i had a parasite in my eyes. Of course i was freak out and went to the optometrist and they said it was normal and live with it. How can seeing floating worm as i call it normal.

Anonymous said...

I see dots every single day 24 7 even with my eyes closed I went to my optemologist and she said she could only fing o floater but I think its something else because its thousands of microscopical dots that are multicolor and in the morning i get dizzy and i get headaces and i feel dehydrated but im not im also nearsighted

Anonymous said...

They're called astro... somethings.
I asked my optition about them and he said they're just lil bits of stuff that come lose in your eyes, and just float about. You can't get rid of them and they can get worse with age. They're microscopic and nothing serious so don't worry peeps :P I'm 17 and had been getting lots of tests done on me cause i see tiny lil glittery pixels in my eyes constantly :S had it for 4 years now so getting used to it ^_^

Anonymous said...

I'm 17, i don't wear glasses and i notice these as well, But only when i look at something bright, and when i close my eyes to sleep... I can see like a film grain affect---it might be caused by me being and the computer and tv all the time, but eyestrain is not permanent from what i read on some sight.( i may need to lay off the screen for a couple of weeks to see if it goes away. but i probably won't, heh heh...

Anonymous said...

I am very surprise i did not see that anyone wrote about this here. But i am 29 yo, i have had this problem of seeing lights on the side of my vision on both eyes, and I have seen floaters my whole life. I was taken to a retinal specialist who told me that i had tiny holes in my retina. I have to go see a specialist every year just to make sure nothing has changed. What the doctor told me was that he had to monitor for more holes and to make sure there was no retinal detachment. He told me that if i see anything change, or *dark spots* or a dark curtain like thing to go immediately to him. hope this helps.