Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsSymptomsCausesWhen to See a ProviderTreatment
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
Symptoms
Causes
When to See a Provider
Treatment
Black spots in vision (or floaters) are the specks, squiggly lines, or cobwebs you may notice in your line of sight. Floaters are clumps of the gel-like substance (vitreoushumor) thatfill your eye. They are common and usually do not need treatment unless there is an underlying problem with the eye that’s causing them.
This article covers what it means if you’re seeing black spots in your vision. You’ll also learn about what causes floaters in your vision, when to worry about them, and how floaters can be treated.
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How To Get Rid of Eye Floaters
Floaters can look slightly different depending on how the vitreous gel in the eye clumps together. You might describe them as:
Floaters are sometimes more noticeable when you’re looking at a light or bright background and less noticeable in the dark.
Usually, floaters move with your vision as your eyes move rather than staying in one spot. A black, fixed spot in your vision could be another condition, like a macular hole.
Do Eye Floaters Go Away?Sometimes, black spots in your vision go away on their own or become less of a problem. In these cases, floaters may not need treatment.
Do Eye Floaters Go Away?
Sometimes, black spots in your vision go away on their own or become less of a problem. In these cases, floaters may not need treatment.
Eye Floaters: Signs and Symptoms
Floaters can be a normal part of aging. Even though anybody can get floaters, they’re more common in people over the age of 50 as well as in people who have vision problems like nearsightedness.
Floaters also happen if the vitreous in the eye begins to shrink, clump together, and form particles. These particles float through the eye into your line of sight and cast shadows on the retina as they do. Many times, these particles will eventually settle, and you will no longer notice them as “floaters” in your vision.
Sometimes, people will seeflashes of lightbefore they start seeing floaters. Floaters can occur after what is known as aposterior vitreous detachment(PVD). By age 80, more than half of the population has had a posterior vitreous detachment.
This eye problem happens when the central part of the vitreous gel starts to liquefy and can no longer support the gel on the edges. When this part gets weak, it detaches from the sides and collapses into the liquified center. This tugs the light-sensing layer at the back of the eye (retina) and can cause you to see flashes of light.
When to Worry About Eye Floaters
In many cases, the posterior vitreous tugs on the vitreous without any problem and detaches from it. However, it can lead to more serious issues such asretinal tearsor retinal detachment.
You may see flashes if you hit your head. The motion shakes the vitreous fluid and can make you “see stars” for a moment. Seeing flashes of light that look like a jagged lightning bolt can happen if you get a blood vessel spasm in your brain. This usually happens just in one eye and is called anocular migraine. It may or may not come with a headache. Migraine with aura is a type of ocular migraine.
Eye floaters can also be a side effect of medications used to treat eye conditions (like injections for ARMD) or those given after eye surgery. In these cases, leftover bubbles from medication or oils used during surgery can look like floaters.
What Causes Black Spots That Are Not Floaters?
Rare conditions can also cause black spots in your vision including:
In other cases, floaters can be related to having blood in the eye from leaking blood vessels—a problem that can be related to conditions likediabeticretinopathy(which is why people with diabetes should regularly have their eyes checked).
People with conditions that cause inflammation and swelling of the middle layer of the eye (uveitis) can also get floaters.
Why Do Eye Floaters Happen?
If you notice a sudden increase in the number of specks or floaters in your line of sight, you need to see a provider to have your eyes checked.
While posterior vitreous detachments can happen without causing lasting problems and may even go unnoticed, they can also happen suddenly and be very serious.
Having a lot of new floaters can be a sign of a tear in the retina. If diagnosed quickly, the condition can usually be successfully repaired. However, if not treated, it can lead to retinal detachment, which can cause vision loss if it’s not fixed with surgery.
You may not need treatment for black spots in your vision. If you do, there are a few options depending on what the cause of the floaters is.
Vitrectomy
Avitrectomyused to be the only treatment for black spots in vision. It is a procedure to take out all of the jelly in the eye and replace it with a clear sterile fluid. This treatment has risks that your surgeon will go over with you, including:
Because of these risks, some of which can threaten your sight, your surgeon will have to weigh the potential for these issues with the need to remove the floaters.
Can Dry Eyes Cause Floaters?
Laser
Another treatment with less risk is laservitreolysis. With this outpatient procedure, floaters are broken up with the aid of a laser, which is aimed through the dilated pupil at the floater. The floaters are either vaporized or broken up into smaller, less noticeable pieces.
Keep in mind that not all floaters can be treated with this approach. If the floaters are too close to the retina (which often happens in younger people), the laser technique cannot be used.
In deciding whether to treat your floaters with a laser, your surgeon will likely consider whether:
Can You Prevent Eye Floaters?You cannot always prevent eye floaters, but taking steps to avoid eye injuries (like wearing safety goggles) and taking care of your eye health as you get older (like having regular eye exams) can help.
Can You Prevent Eye Floaters?
You cannot always prevent eye floaters, but taking steps to avoid eye injuries (like wearing safety goggles) and taking care of your eye health as you get older (like having regular eye exams) can help.
Summary
Black spots in your vision are often just annoying and will go away without treatment. When medical care for floaters is needed, your provider might recommend the removal of the gel-like fluid in the eye and the replacement of the fluid. They can also use a laser to vaporize the floaters or break them into smaller pieces.
If you have black spots in your vision and do not know why, it’s important to see a provider. They can figure out what is causing them and recommend treatment that will help keep your eyes and vision healthy.
What Spots or Floaters in Your Vision Could Mean
15 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.American Academy of Ophthalmology.What are eye floaters and flashes?.NHS.Macular hole.National Eye Institute.Floaters.Nebraska Medicine.Eye floaters: What causes them and when to see a doctor.Bond-Taylor M, Jakobsson G, Zetterberg M.Posterior vitreous detachment - prevalence of and risk factors for retinal tears.Clin Ophthalmol. 2017;11:1689-1695. Published 2017 Sep 18. doi:10.2147/OPTH.S143898American Academy of Ophthalmology.What is a posterior venous detachment?.American Optometric Association.Ocular migraine.Magruder Eye Institute.8 reasons you could be seeing black spots in your vision.Brittanica.Visual field defect.American Optometric Association.Floaters & spots.American Academy of Ophthalmology.Central serous chorioretinopathy.NIH National Eye Institute.Uveitis.Duke Health.Seeing an increase in eye floaters? See your eye doctor.American Society of Retina Specialists.Vitrectomy for floaters.Katsanos A, Tsaldari N, Gorgoli K, Lalos F, Stefaniotou M, Asproudis I.Safety and efficacy of YAG laser vitreolysis for the treatment of vitreous floaters: An overview.Adv Ther. 2020;37(4):1319-1327. doi:10.1007/s12325-020-01261-w
15 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.American Academy of Ophthalmology.What are eye floaters and flashes?.NHS.Macular hole.National Eye Institute.Floaters.Nebraska Medicine.Eye floaters: What causes them and when to see a doctor.Bond-Taylor M, Jakobsson G, Zetterberg M.Posterior vitreous detachment - prevalence of and risk factors for retinal tears.Clin Ophthalmol. 2017;11:1689-1695. Published 2017 Sep 18. doi:10.2147/OPTH.S143898American Academy of Ophthalmology.What is a posterior venous detachment?.American Optometric Association.Ocular migraine.Magruder Eye Institute.8 reasons you could be seeing black spots in your vision.Brittanica.Visual field defect.American Optometric Association.Floaters & spots.American Academy of Ophthalmology.Central serous chorioretinopathy.NIH National Eye Institute.Uveitis.Duke Health.Seeing an increase in eye floaters? See your eye doctor.American Society of Retina Specialists.Vitrectomy for floaters.Katsanos A, Tsaldari N, Gorgoli K, Lalos F, Stefaniotou M, Asproudis I.Safety and efficacy of YAG laser vitreolysis for the treatment of vitreous floaters: An overview.Adv Ther. 2020;37(4):1319-1327. doi:10.1007/s12325-020-01261-w
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
American Academy of Ophthalmology.What are eye floaters and flashes?.NHS.Macular hole.National Eye Institute.Floaters.Nebraska Medicine.Eye floaters: What causes them and when to see a doctor.Bond-Taylor M, Jakobsson G, Zetterberg M.Posterior vitreous detachment - prevalence of and risk factors for retinal tears.Clin Ophthalmol. 2017;11:1689-1695. Published 2017 Sep 18. doi:10.2147/OPTH.S143898American Academy of Ophthalmology.What is a posterior venous detachment?.American Optometric Association.Ocular migraine.Magruder Eye Institute.8 reasons you could be seeing black spots in your vision.Brittanica.Visual field defect.American Optometric Association.Floaters & spots.American Academy of Ophthalmology.Central serous chorioretinopathy.NIH National Eye Institute.Uveitis.Duke Health.Seeing an increase in eye floaters? See your eye doctor.American Society of Retina Specialists.Vitrectomy for floaters.Katsanos A, Tsaldari N, Gorgoli K, Lalos F, Stefaniotou M, Asproudis I.Safety and efficacy of YAG laser vitreolysis for the treatment of vitreous floaters: An overview.Adv Ther. 2020;37(4):1319-1327. doi:10.1007/s12325-020-01261-w
American Academy of Ophthalmology.What are eye floaters and flashes?.
NHS.Macular hole.
National Eye Institute.Floaters.
Nebraska Medicine.Eye floaters: What causes them and when to see a doctor.
Bond-Taylor M, Jakobsson G, Zetterberg M.Posterior vitreous detachment - prevalence of and risk factors for retinal tears.Clin Ophthalmol. 2017;11:1689-1695. Published 2017 Sep 18. doi:10.2147/OPTH.S143898
American Academy of Ophthalmology.What is a posterior venous detachment?.
American Optometric Association.Ocular migraine.
Magruder Eye Institute.8 reasons you could be seeing black spots in your vision.
Brittanica.Visual field defect.
American Optometric Association.Floaters & spots.
American Academy of Ophthalmology.Central serous chorioretinopathy.
NIH National Eye Institute.Uveitis.
Duke Health.Seeing an increase in eye floaters? See your eye doctor.
American Society of Retina Specialists.Vitrectomy for floaters.
Katsanos A, Tsaldari N, Gorgoli K, Lalos F, Stefaniotou M, Asproudis I.Safety and efficacy of YAG laser vitreolysis for the treatment of vitreous floaters: An overview.Adv Ther. 2020;37(4):1319-1327. doi:10.1007/s12325-020-01261-w
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