This is what eye floaters look like.
It seems that a lot of us suffer from what are known as eye floaters. What are eye floaters? They are tiny little dots and squiggles in our vision.
Often when you try and look at an eye floater it will move out off to the side, or out of sight, only to return when you are no longer searching for it.
Sometimes people believe these squiggles to be external and in the real world. However, they are inside the gel centre of the eye, known as the vitreous humour.
The vitreous humour is the space in between the lens of the eye and the retina. If you can imagine the the lens to be a projector in a cinema, the retina would be the screen that the image is projected on. In between the projector and the screen is the entire area where people sit, and that is akin to the vitreous humour.
Imagine someone in their seat throwing up a tiny piece of popcorn into the air, so that it interrupts the light of the projector. It creates a shadow on the screen. Essentially, this is what is happening in your eye. Tiny inclusions in the vitreous humour are getting in the way of the light we see in the world around us and the connection to the optic nerve.
So why do we get eye floaters?
When we are born our vitreous humour gel is clear. But as time goes by and we become older, the gel degenerates and imperfections gradually develop. As mentioned before, these imperfections then cast shadows onto the retina, causing eye floaters.
Are eye floater something I should worry about?
For most people eye floaters pose as a minor annoyance at best. However, for some people, it can become quite severe. If you are at all worried, make sure that you consult your doctor or optometrist. There are treatments available to help remove eye floaters, so you do not need to suffer in silence, get them sorted.