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Comment by batou | Hacker News Reader

Off topic; does anyone know if there are any services that get rid of floaters? I've got a nasty one right in the middle of my best eye and it is very annoying. Has been there for two years and I haven't got used to it yet.

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I had a retina detachment earlier this year. My retina had torn and scarred on the bottom of my eye and decided to detach while I was out of the country. Recovery has been ok and I have 20/30 vision on that eye .... But that is with staring at the letters for long enough until my brain has averaged the letter out (the letters actually narrow and widen). I now have a permanent pinch in the middle of my sight due to the retina not lying down perfectly flat. I will have to deal with this as my doctor says this will not heal. It is not fun. If I wear corrective lenses my eye tries to merge two images that aren't the same size.

Anyway I'll stop ranting. One of the signs that you might be having tears (precursor to detachment) is an increase of floaties in the eye. Also nearsightedness (yes for to the eye shadow you have a higher chance of detachment), and light flashes. If you are noticing more floaties you might want to get out checked out.

Sorry to hear this. Thanks for the warning - I'll get my eyes tested next week!

I have the same problem, talked to the doctor and there is no way to fix it permanently. What you can try is move floaters by doing a "teenager" eye roll, very rapidly several time in a row. In my case this helps to shift them away from the view.

I'll try that. Thanks for the tip.

There are a couple approaches.

One involves using a YAG laser to burn the floaters:

http://www.eyefloaters.com/index.php?option=com_content&task...

Sadly, it's done rarely enough that it could be snake oil or in-progress research.

A full vitrectomy is possible (replace the vitreous humour fluid in the eye):

http://www.allaboutvision.com/conditions/vitreoretinal-proce...

But this is dangerous enough that it's almost never performed simply for floaters.

I'll pass on both of them. Thanks for the info!

Not to my knowledge. Last time I did research on that, there were experimental treatments (also involving lasers) to try to dissolve them. Which had dangers and some side effects, among them more floaters!

Give it time, it will likely become less annoying. I've had one for 5 years now. In the last couple of years, I've noticed more of them appearing, but this particular bothersome one fading. It is likely breaking down and my eye doctor told me it could happen.

That sounds like it's dangerous so I'd avoid that :-)

Thanks for the confidence builder; much appreciated!

Would you happen to be frequently dehydrated? I find that floaters are a sign that I personally haven't been drinking enough water...

I drink (water) like a fish. Have tried that one for over a year unfortunately :(

As far as I know the only fix is vitrectomy.

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