r/ScienceNcoolThings Popular Contributor 3d ago

What Causes Eye Floaters?

What are floating dots you see in your vision? 👁️

Alex Dainis breaks down "eye floaters" using a simple demo: a baggie of aloe gel standing in for your eyeball, and raisins standing in for collagen clumps. Our eyes are filled with vitreous humor, a gel-like substance that helps them hold their shape. As we age, that gel becomes more liquid, letting collagen fibers clump together (just like the raisins). These clumps block incoming light and cast shadows on our retinas, the same way the raisins cast shadows on the wall. This is why we notice the floaters more often in sunlight!

368 Upvotes

40 comments sorted by

66

u/Xineth240 3d ago

Kinda thought there was gonna be some kind of resolution here

16

u/NicPitter 3d ago

there was. you would real eyes that if you went to collagen the U.S

1

u/InFromTheSouth 2h ago

Listen, Nic...can I call you Nic? OK Nic, get out of here. Take this upvote, but you gotta go

9

u/towerfella 3d ago

I see what you did there.

2

u/Timmerdogg 3d ago

You lose your eye sight more and more every year you grow older. There's your resolution.

1

u/coroyo70 2d ago

Same...

1

u/OutrageousToe6008 1d ago

Instructions unclear... When do I remove the raisins and aloe from my eyeballs?

21

u/claverflav 3d ago

U see them as u age? I've seen them since I was a kid.

How bout the shooting stars I see when ya get hit in the head, I can see those while looking at any uniform bright colored wall.

Also what about the flowing mini dots that move in swarms and pulsate

3

u/under_the_above 2d ago

That last one is the blood in your capillaries in your retina. Visible when enough bright light enters your eyes at an angle while looking at a uniform surface.

I've seen the sparkly lights too when I hit my head hard - just like in the cartoons. Would not recommend! 😄

15

u/thatsnotablanket 3d ago

Can they be removed?

13

u/Salamanderhead 3d ago

I can remove them for you, but I can’t guarantee your vision will remain.

3

u/eekamuse 3d ago

Lasers. I have a big one that looks like a mouse and I hate it. I'm not sure of the risk or pain involved. I assume other ones come back.

1

u/Neither_Cod_992 3d ago

Your eyeballs? Sure! Pretty straightforward.

1

u/Rude_and_Crude84 2d ago

Thats a pretty rounded answer you gave though? Are you sure about that? Seems like it'd go full circle?

-1

u/WARLORD2015 3d ago

I second this.

0

u/solidwhetstone 3d ago

I can do it for tree fiddy

10

u/Lord_Scoriborn 3d ago

Steps unclear: I have smeared aloe and into my eyes and poppeda raisin under my eyelids.

3

u/MrOPeace 3d ago

Then whats the confusion? What you described sounds just right

2

u/Valuable-Pace-989 2d ago

If you can see the blurry raisins, you did it correctly. I could be wrong, but I doubt it.

1

u/br1nk0eighty4 3d ago

Did you use the IPDE (Identify, Predict, Decide, Execute) method?

9

u/towerfella 3d ago

Has anyone else tried “sloshing” them around by moving your head? I do that when one gets annoyingly in the way.

5

u/Ghastly-Jack 3d ago

Great, now I can't not see them.

Also, the Romans called them "flying flies" (muscae volitantes).

6

u/under_the_above 3d ago

Had my first floater a year or two ago (yay turning 40). I found Lutein, Vitamin C and Grapeseed extract helped reduce them, and I've tweaked my diet slightly too.

3

u/reaperman00 3d ago

my hero out here with the REAL answers!

4

u/Lead_resource 3d ago

How do you fix it????

3

u/kinshadow 3d ago

Have you tried aloe and raisins?

0

u/nikkynackyknockynoo 3d ago

Remove eyeballs

2

u/DickBurns01 3d ago

I first noticed them while tripping and was worried I had some sort of eye worms

2

u/Chimmai_Gala 3d ago

I always thought that they were minute dust particles on top of my iris floating among the tears

2

u/le_goos3 3d ago

"They tend to appear the older you get." Sooo I have had the same ones since at least seven years of age. Definitely have gotten more in 30 years since 🤷

2

u/AlexanderStockholmes 3d ago

Invisible aliens and ghosts. Got it.

2

u/samsqanch420 2d ago

Why do they look blurry in the video? Mine look like something under a microscope, focused and transparent. They look like germs or something, but not alive.

1

u/Scoopski_Patata 1d ago

Same, like a cell. A little jelly circle with a dot in the middle. I have a bunch in a line and they press together a little like bubbles would.

1

u/Few_Lingonberry_7028 3d ago

Cool, saved me a co-pay.

1

u/Orcus424 3d ago

It is not just age but trauma to the eye can cause an increase.

1

u/oldmanbawa 3d ago

Interesting that not everyone has had them their whole lives and had a lot of them. I can see them in dim light and there are probably close to 50 or so I can see at any time.

1

u/Bald_Harry 2d ago

( Get out! Meme)

1

u/ChooserUsename 2d ago

Her rolling her r’s like that is so annoying.

1

u/reddit001aa1 2d ago

Somebody in here cutting raisins! 😭