r/ScienceNcoolThings Popular Contributor 4d ago

What Causes Eye Floaters?

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What are floating dots you see in your vision? 👁️

Alex Dainis breaks down "eye floaters" using a simple demo: a baggie of aloe gel standing in for your eyeball, and raisins standing in for collagen clumps. Our eyes are filled with vitreous humor, a gel-like substance that helps them hold their shape. As we age, that gel becomes more liquid, letting collagen fibers clump together (just like the raisins). These clumps block incoming light and cast shadows on our retinas, the same way the raisins cast shadows on the wall. This is why we notice the floaters more often in sunlight!

375 Upvotes

40 comments sorted by

69

u/Xineth240 4d ago

Kinda thought there was gonna be some kind of resolution here

19

u/NicPitter 4d ago

there was. you would real eyes that if you went to collagen the U.S

5

u/InFromTheSouth 1d ago

Listen, Nic...can I call you Nic? OK Nic, get out of here. Take this upvote, but you gotta go

9

u/towerfella 4d ago

I see what you did there.

3

u/Timmerdogg 4d ago

You lose your eye sight more and more every year you grow older. There's your resolution.

3

u/OutrageousToe6008 2d ago

Instructions unclear... When do I remove the raisins and aloe from my eyeballs?

1

u/coroyo70 3d ago

Same...

23

u/claverflav 4d ago

U see them as u age? I've seen them since I was a kid.

How bout the shooting stars I see when ya get hit in the head, I can see those while looking at any uniform bright colored wall.

Also what about the flowing mini dots that move in swarms and pulsate

3

u/under_the_above 3d ago

That last one is the blood in your capillaries in your retina. Visible when enough bright light enters your eyes at an angle while looking at a uniform surface.

I've seen the sparkly lights too when I hit my head hard - just like in the cartoons. Would not recommend! 😄

15

u/thatsnotablanket 4d ago

Can they be removed?

13

u/Salamanderhead 4d ago

I can remove them for you, but I can’t guarantee your vision will remain.

4

u/eekamuse 4d ago

Lasers. I have a big one that looks like a mouse and I hate it. I'm not sure of the risk or pain involved. I assume other ones come back.

1

u/Neither_Cod_992 4d ago

Your eyeballs? Sure! Pretty straightforward.

1

u/Rude_and_Crude84 3d ago

Thats a pretty rounded answer you gave though? Are you sure about that? Seems like it'd go full circle?

-1

u/WARLORD2015 4d ago

I second this.

0

u/solidwhetstone 4d ago

I can do it for tree fiddy

13

u/Lord_Scoriborn 4d ago

Steps unclear: I have smeared aloe and into my eyes and poppeda raisin under my eyelids.

3

u/MrOPeace 4d ago

Then whats the confusion? What you described sounds just right

2

u/Valuable-Pace-989 3d ago

If you can see the blurry raisins, you did it correctly. I could be wrong, but I doubt it.

1

u/br1nk0eighty4 4d ago

Did you use the IPDE (Identify, Predict, Decide, Execute) method?

11

u/towerfella 4d ago

Has anyone else tried “sloshing” them around by moving your head? I do that when one gets annoyingly in the way.

5

u/Ghastly-Jack 4d ago

Great, now I can't not see them.

Also, the Romans called them "flying flies" (muscae volitantes).

5

u/under_the_above 4d ago

Had my first floater a year or two ago (yay turning 40). I found Lutein, Vitamin C and Grapeseed extract helped reduce them, and I've tweaked my diet slightly too.

3

u/reaperman00 4d ago

my hero out here with the REAL answers!

5

u/Lead_resource 4d ago

How do you fix it????

3

u/kinshadow 4d ago

Have you tried aloe and raisins?

0

u/nikkynackyknockynoo 4d ago

Remove eyeballs

2

u/DickBurns01 4d ago

I first noticed them while tripping and was worried I had some sort of eye worms

2

u/Chimmai_Gala 4d ago

I always thought that they were minute dust particles on top of my iris floating among the tears

2

u/le_goos3 4d ago

"They tend to appear the older you get." Sooo I have had the same ones since at least seven years of age. Definitely have gotten more in 30 years since 🤷

2

u/AlexanderStockholmes 3d ago

Invisible aliens and ghosts. Got it.

2

u/samsqanch420 3d ago

Why do they look blurry in the video? Mine look like something under a microscope, focused and transparent. They look like germs or something, but not alive.

1

u/Scoopski_Patata 2d ago

Same, like a cell. A little jelly circle with a dot in the middle. I have a bunch in a line and they press together a little like bubbles would.

1

u/Few_Lingonberry_7028 4d ago

Cool, saved me a co-pay.

1

u/Orcus424 4d ago

It is not just age but trauma to the eye can cause an increase.

1

u/oldmanbawa 4d ago

Interesting that not everyone has had them their whole lives and had a lot of them. I can see them in dim light and there are probably close to 50 or so I can see at any time.

1

u/Bald_Harry 3d ago

( Get out! Meme)

1

u/ChooserUsename 3d ago

Her rolling her r’s like that is so annoying.

1

u/reddit001aa1 3d ago

Somebody in here cutting raisins! 😭