Eye Floaters!!

[InfinitusEquitas]

I read through the first page of the thread, but stopped short of reading everything. Serves me right I guess.

Glad to see you're ok... with regards to lasers at least.

 

[v33]

I've been able to see little floaty squiggles when I stare into the sky since I was a little kid. Decades later I've forgotten about it and would have to go out of my way to see them.....it's never struck me as unusual and anyone I've ever spoken too has seen them as well. I have no issues with my vision.

 

[JimBolder]

Yeah, I've had floaters on and off my whole life too. I'm pretty sure they aren't laser-related in any way.

 

[sampurn]

I've been able to see little floaty squiggles when I stare into the sky since I was a little kid. Decades later I've forgotten about it and would have to go out of my way to see them.....it's never struck me as unusual and anyone I've ever spoken too has seen them as well. I have no issues with my vision.

That's what I had before. Now I see them in lower indoor lighting conditions as well and they're larger.

 

[Razako]

There's like a 0% chance of a laser causing enough damage to detach bits of dead flesh inside your eye without also causing retinal damage which can be seen by an eye doctor.

 

[Nocturne]

Well, it was always my belief that they were bacteria/organisms. You can see your own blood cells float through if you squint just right into light that is also at the right angle.

Sometimes when I go for a ride at the beach, I sit back and the sunlight illuminates them perfectly and its fun to try to center them, only to have your eye adjustment also move the objects up, which leads me to believe in my instance, they are located on the outer surface or cornea of the eye.


Also I watch my blood cells
"Lie back on a cloudless day and let your eyes rest on a deep blue sky. As you relax and stare at the sky, you should begin to see faint dots of light moving quickly around. It may take ten or fifteen seconds before you begin to see the dots. Or they may look like tiny flashes of light.

However they appear to you, those tiny dots are really blood cells moving in the retina of your eye.
What’s Going On?

At the back of the eye in the part called the retina, are the photoreceptor cells that detect light and send signals through the nerves to the brain.

In the eyes of invertebrates, like insects, snails, and spiders, the nerves go straight from the back of the eye to the brain.

In the eyes of vertebrates, such as mammals, birds, and reptiles, the path that the nerves take from the photoreceptors to the brain begins at the surface of the retina in front of the photoreceptors.

Those nerves then come together to form the optic nerve, passing through the retina on their way to the brain.
Detecting Light

What this means is that there is a layer of nerves between the retina and the light that the retina is detecting. But to operate, the nerves need blood and so tiny blood vessels also flow across the surface of the retina.

A spider looking at the sky wouldn’t see the tiny flashes because there are no blood vessels between its photoreceptor cells and the sky. But when you look at the sky, you can see your own blood cells moving across your retina.

It’s best to relax and stare at the sky because when your eyes focus on an object at any particular distance, you won’t be able to see the retina of your own eyes."

Why Do I Sometimes See Tiny Moving Dots? | A Moment of Science - Indiana Public Media


This exhibit was at my local science museum, you look into this aperture that shines a purple light into your eye and you can see the cells very clearly.
Exhibit Cross Reference - Blood Cells in the Eye

also, I'm not aware of the OPoster's age, but according to this article, "floaters" generally occur after 50 y.o.

Floaters Symptoms, Causes, Treatment - What are the causes of eye floaters on MedicineNet


Also in the above article
"In addition to vitreous syneresis and posterior vitreous detachments, both of which are normal occurrences that cause eye floaters, there are a large number of abnormalities in the eyes that may also cause the symptoms of eye floaters. Any cellular material within the vitreous may cause eye floaters. Red blood cells as a result of hemorrhage and white blood cells as a result of inflammation are common types of cellular material causing eye floaters. Hemorrhage into the vitreous may be a result of injury, diabetic retinopathy, a retinal tear through a blood vessel, or eye surgery. Inflammation in the vitreous may be caused by uveitis, injury, infection, or eye surgery."

Nocturne

 

[ShortyInCanada]

There isn't much talk of the cornea here.
Some visible "floaters" can be atributed to the cornea. Dryness, allergies, dust, inflamation, bacteria, all could cause distotions, ripples, or build up of proteins on the surface of your eye.
These all would be emphasized by light from the side or slightly behind your plain of view.
Usually these factors are treatable and cause no permanent damage.
Your hightened awareness of the potential for injury is a credit to you.

The question I have hasn't been considered yet. Everyone is assuming that one is looking directly towards the beam.
What if a reflection comes from slightly behind the head and the angle allows for it to only strikes the cornea ? Could it cause a burn in spot that would result in a distortion of vision ? (Like laser vision correction in just one small unintentional spot.) Perhaps it might only cause a severe drying that turns the spot white/opaque ?
Does anyone have protective goggles that curve around your head that far to protect from off angle reflections ?

 

[Razako]

There isn't much talk of the cornea here.
Some visible "floaters" can be atributed to the cornea. Dryness, allergies, dust, inflamation, bacteria, all could cause distotions, ripples, or build up of proteins on the surface of your eye.
These all would be emphasized by light from the side or slightly behind your plain of view.
Usually these factors are treatable and cause no permanent damage.
Your hightened awareness of the potential for injury is a credit to you.

The question I have hasn't been considered yet. Everyone is assuming that one is looking directly towards the beam.
What if a reflection comes from slightly behind the head and the angle allows for it to only strikes the cornea ? Could it cause a burn in spot that would result in a distortion of vision ? (Like laser vision correction in just one small unintentional spot.) Perhaps it might only cause a severe drying that turns the spot white/opaque ?
Does anyone have protective goggles that curve around your head that far to protect from off angle reflections ?

The cornea is clear. I don't think lasers would affect it that much unless it's a direct hit from a strong laser.

 

[Nocturne]

The cornea is clear. I don't think lasers would affect it that much unless it's a direct hit from a strong laser.

Possible, highly unlikely, also most safety glasses i have seen have side shielding too.