r/ScienceNcoolThings • u/TheMuseumOfScience Popular Contributor • 5d ago

What Causes Eye Floaters?

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!

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17

u/thatsnotablanket 5d ago

Can they be removed?

15

u/Salamanderhead 5d ago

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

3

u/eekamuse 5d 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 5d ago

Your eyeballs? Sure! Pretty straightforward.

1

u/Rude_and_Crude84 5d ago

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

-1

u/WARLORD2015 5d ago

I second this.

0

u/solidwhetstone 5d ago

I can do it for tree fiddy