Not every elderly person has floaters; how do you explain this if an aging vitreous is the only explanation?

Question

Not every elderly person has floaters; how do you explain this if an aging vitreous is the only explanation? What does the vitreous contain that causes floater formation?

Answer 1

http://www.nei.nih.gov/health/vitreous/vitreous.asp

They are usually harmless unless strands tug hard and tear the retina'

Answer 2

I first heard about floaters - when my husband kept telling me - what he was seeing looked like a flock of birds flying.



Eventually - the vitreous began to tear the retina loose or vice versa..



He had so many eye surgery's and ended up - with them filling that eye with gas of some sort and now he has a band around his eyeball.



I myself - see a speck in each eye. To me - it looks like a small bug/nat flying along on my computer screen.



Don't know if they would be called floaters.



Check out the links that others have posted for you.



DeeJay - Just my best guess.

Answer 3

Floaters are not, necessarily, associated with age. I have had them from being very young, as did my mother and my younger brother. Mother had a detached retina in her 50s and I have been warned about what I must look out for and get to hospital quickly if what happened to mother should happen to me. She was in hospital being operated on within 5 hours of suffering very blurred vision in one eye. I cannot see that being possible now with the quality of our health service having deteriorated in the way it has.



I am seen every year by my optician with the option of popping in when anything AT ALL bothers me. He says he has never seen floaters quite like mine. They are far more than an irritation and totally cut off my vision for brief periods. Blinking moves them around but they just keep returning. I had to give up driving many years ago because of this. Right now I see 'black things' moving around my screen but this has happened for such along time I now know not to try to brush them away. They are here to stay unfortunately.



I'm sorry I don't know how they are formed or why some families are plagued with them more than others but they certainly seem to be hereditary and can start very early in life.

Answer 4

I have been wearing glasses since I was ten, and really needed them at 3 years old.



I have had floaters as long as I can remember, so although it may be a problem which some seniors get, anyone can get it. Sometimes it's worse than others. Therefore, it's not just an aging process.

Answer 5

I was told I had floaters, but I have never seen them, I had both cataracts removed and the right eye lasered. They also tell me I have something wrong with the right eye but it takes years to manifest,I am 85 and my prescription has not changed for 30 years. There is Glaucoma in the family

Answer 6

They are not always age related. I've had many floaters since I was a kid. They are just there all the time and they don' t bother me at all.

Answer 7

Floaters are generally a sign that there is too much water in your system.

Answer 8

when I had to take a high school class involving a microscope, I had to take off my glasses and get close and personal the lens revealed many floaters. no problems so far.

Answer 9

I don't know the why, but I do know some young people that have them.