What Are Eye Floaters?
Eye floaters are small spots or shapes that drift across your vision. According to Mayo Clinic, “Eye floaters are spots in your vision. They may look to you like black or gray specks, strings, or cobwebs. They may drift about when you move your eyes.” They are common and often harmless, affecting about seven in ten people.
What Causes Them
Floaters occur due to age-related changes in the eye’s vitreous, a gel-like substance that liquefies over time. “As you age, the protein fibers that make up the vitreous shrink into little shreds that clump together,” explains WebMD’s Rick Ansorge. These clumps cast shadows on the retina, creating the floaters you see.
