Speaking about being a geezer, floaters, who else deals with them?

[QRTRHRS]

About two weeks ago I put a couple of hundred bales of hay in my barn loft. Following that, I did some more heavy lifting working on the house. About that time, I started having issues with my dominate left eye. I had this kind of opaque blur that floated back to center moving opposite from the direction I was moving my eye. It was really noticable while driving as I move my eyes a lot while scanning for anything and everything. Just a distraction but I thought I should make sure it was not a detached retina or something.

I have had floaters for some time but this one seemed different but that's what it turned out to be. Funny part was when the doc said that the one in my other eye was just as bad? Heck, I never realized that I had a similar one in that eye?

He assured me that it was simply age and most likely not do to overdoing it with the hay lifting, etc. I joked back at him that life sometimes sux then you get old, lol! Had me nervous though. I don't have time to go down for some eye surgery right now. I already go for a checkup every six months being a cantidate for gloucoma.

 

[LJH]

Big time. For me, it's kinda like being constantly surrounded by a swarm of gnats. I try not to swat at them in public for fear of being hauled off to the rubber room. I'm 66 and this has been a pain in my arse for a good ten years and yeah, the eye doctor says it's part of getting old - joy.

There's a surgical procedure that's supposed to fix it, similar to but a tad more complicated than cataract surgery. Not ready for that yet, but if it gets worse I might reconsider. Not keen on somebody carving my eyeballs, I've only got these two.

 

[Furu]

No problems myself but one of my wife's friends just had the procedure as she was in bad floater shape. The take the fluid from the eye and filter it and put it back in.(basically pump it out, filter pump in on a loop for a period of time) so that the eyeball never deflates. She was eye patched for a day or two and within a little under a week back to seeing better than she had for years.

 

[Egon]

The pleasures to look forward to in "The Golden Years".:thumbsup:

 

[tow653]

I don't think it's an age thing, I've had them since my teens,and will be 60 next week. Sometimes worse than others.

 

[riptides]

Just keep up with the checkups. Floaters and other symptoms could be warning signs for other problems.

I had a retina issue, had a big floater, so I had the fluid drained and gas inserted. The only problem with that procedure is you cannot see for 4-8 weeks.

But the vision is clear now that the floaters are gone.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

I have a few floaters, and have had for years, but nothing that affects my vision. Have had cataract surgery in one eye; not a piece of cake, but not that big of a deal either. I was almost blind in my right eye, and now it's better than my left. The floater surgery sounds worse that the cataract surgery.

 

[Bird]

Apparently some of you are starting earlier than I did.:laughing: I was over 71 when I first saw some floaters and had no idea what it was, so I was concerned about it. So I had an eye exam by an optometrist in Aug. 2011, said the floaters were no problem, but I ought to get the cataracts checked. So I saw an ophthalmologist in Sept. 2011, said he could fix the cataracts, but I needed to see a retina specialist about the film or wrinkles on the retina. So I had cataract surgery on the left eye in Oct. 2011, and the right eye in Nov. 2011, then retina surgery on the left eye in Dec. 2011, and the right eye in Jan. 2012. Immediately after the retina surgery, literally hundreds of floaters that gradually disappeared.

And while I was a bit concerned about someone cutting or poking around in my eyes, it's really painless surgery.

 

[Ted Summey]

50 years old here. I've had floaters for several years. They seem to be worse when I'm tired. They come and they go. Not always an aggravation but on occasion its hard to do close up work because of them.

 

[Dr_Zinj]

Floaters need to be checked out as they can be a sign of other, worse problems.

If they're troublesome enough, you can do like Riptides and have them surgically removed.