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Dear Laura:
It sure is an oddball eyeball experience! First you're staring at a white ceiling or at the sky,
then suddenly strange specks and thread-like strands start invading your vision. Well, chances are
those specks and strands (also called floaters) are just shadows of tiny, shriveled bits of protein
and old blood vessels that have been trapped in your eyes since before you were born.
These shadows get cast on your retina, a thin, postage stamp-sized layer of tissue at the back
of the eye which contains millions of nerve cells that are sensitive to light, color and movement.
Because the floaters are inside your eyes, they move when your eyes move and seem to flit away when
you try to focus on them directly. A breakdown of your eyes' vitreous (say: vit-ree-us) humor may
also have formed those phantom floaters. The vitreous humor is a clear, globby material that fills
the inside of your eyes. (FYI: it's the same stuff that has inspired toymakers to make their fake
toy eyeballs nice 'n' squishy.) In real life, this jelly-like fluid can deteriorate because of old
age, injuries and certain eye diseases.
While floaters aren't harmful to most people, sudden changes or increases in their numbers can
be symptoms of more serious problems. So get your eyes examined--seeing a doctor can be better than
seeing spots in those cases.
Signed,
Wendell
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