Dark Spots in Vision

A patient may describe them to his or her eye specialist as eye floaters, are dark spots that seems to dance or shuffle in front of your eyes. You may have them in different kinds of shapes and sizes. Because of them, you cannot see things, which you are looking at properly. Whatever you see with them in your vision, can well be compared to a photograph with a black spot on it. Whatever is on the other side of the spot is obscured. If you are looking at the middle of a streetlight pole at night, then because of the spot, you may see its stump and the streetlight floating in the air freely.

Causes of Dark Spots

It is normal to have floaters in your eyesight. The chamber of the eye between the eye lens and the retina, is filled with vitreous which is a jelly-like substance. The light entering the eye is focused on the retina, with the help of eye lens. When particles, such as body cells, fibers, pigments set lose due to wear and tear, come between the eye lens and the retina, it causes these dark spots. The situation can be compared to the Moon coming between your eyes and the Sun, during a solar eclipse. As these particles are floating in the vitreous, the floating spots come and go.

Age
The most common cause is related to aging. With advancing age, the vitreous present in the eye starts deteriorating leading to the formation of protein-strands. When a cluster of such strands come between the eye lens and the retina, you may experience them.

Infection
The presence of lose body cells in vitreous can be due to an eye infection. The lymphocytes infiltrate into the vitreous to fight the infection-causing organisms which create debris in the form of cells, bacteria, etc. and remain suspended in the vitreous. This debris can also be a cause.

Posterior Vitreous Detachment (PVD)
Advancing age causes the vitreous to deteriorate, lose its consistency and shrink. The vitreous is firmly attached to the retina with the help of millions of fibers, and its shrinking causes the fibers to exert pull on the retina. In such a situation, the retina or a part of it, may get separated from its base layer, to be followed by retinal tear and hemorrhage. This may create the debris in the vitreous and black spots in vision.

Other Causes
YAG laser surgeries, which are used to treat the cataract can lead to the PVD and floaters. A patient who has undergone a cataract surgery, is prone to retina detachment. When this happens, he or she may face the problem. Migraine cannot only give you headaches, but it can also give you the floaters.

Everyone may have to deal with the black spots, at one time or the other. Most of the time, it is not a severe eye problem. However, it is found that, the near-sighted people are more prone to the formation of debris in the eye, especially after 50 years of age. You can treat them with the help of an eye exercise: Move your eyeball up and down; this will stir the vitreous and get the floaters or the debris away from the eye lens. If the problem persists, visit an ophthalmologist. If your ophthalmologist diagnoses that they are due to detached retina, then he may advise you to seal the retina with laser eye surgery, freezing (cryo) or vitrectomy as treatment. These procedures must be handled by a competent doctor.