Naked Science Forum
General Science => General Science => Topic started by: Dewitback on 19/06/2007 20:31:21
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what are those things that you see in your eyes that look like blobs and follow whereever you look. sometimes you can see them, and other times they arent there. are they small germs that you can see cause they are so close to your eye? whats the deal here.
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Do you mean the white floaty spots?
the white ones or "floaters" areblurry spots that drift in front of the eyes but do not block vision. The blur is the result of debris from the vitreous casting a shadow on the retina. The spot is the image formed by a deposit of protein drifting about in the vitreous, the clear jelly-like substance that fills the middle of the eye.
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Hmm, this is different from seeing the colour or shape of a bright object even after looking away from it, yes?
Why can't we actually see the inside front of our eyes?
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They are called floaters. I am actually an optometrist and ave never heard anyone refer to them as germs haha :D
The fluid that makes up the inside of your eyes is called the vitreous. The floaters arise from parts of this vitreous jelly comming off over time and floating in the rest of the vitreous. The parts sometimes float in your visual axis and therefore you can see them in your line of sight. SOmetimes they will float to other areas of the eyes where you cannot actually see them.
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Ok. Since you are an optometrist I want to ask you a question. Why sometimes (don't know exactly, maybe once in some days) I see a point flash in an eye (not always the same eye)?
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Flashes would be phosphenes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphenes), unless the paparazzi are stalking you [:)]
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Flashes would be phosphenes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphenes), unless the paparazzi are stalking you [:)]
Ah, thank you, RD. In my case, I think it may be due to spontaneous firing of cells, but who knows.