Floaters

Most people occasionally see these little specks. They seem to randomly drift across your field of vision. I’ve seen them all my life. I can remember reading a Scientific American article in 1962 or 1963 on them, so I know I’ve seen them on and off since at least that time.

The vitreous body refers to a jelly-like substance that fills the interior of your eye. Sometimes little imperfections form, and this results in these little flecks floating across your field of vision. By themselves, they are harmless. I didn’t think anything about it when one appeared Friday night after watching the Utah-Oregon game on TV.

However, it was still there Saturday morning, along with something new. Intermittent flashes of light popped up in my right eye, and the floater didn’t float–it stayed at exactly the same place in my field of vision. It was also a little bigger than a usual floater.

I still didn’t think much about it, but just out of curiosity I checked WebMD. The advice there was alarming. The combination of unusual floaters and sparklers is a potential symptom of a torn or even detached retina. The only way to tell for sure is to have a physician examine your eye.

I didn’t need WebMD to tell me that this required immediate medical attention. If it turned out to be one of these serious conditions, treatment within the first 24 hours of onset of symptoms gives a high probability of success. Failure to obtain treatment could result in loss of vision.

That sent me hot-footing to the nearby urgent care clinic. They agreed with urgency of the symptoms, which didn’t exactly help my blood pressure. They tried to contact the on-call ophthalmologist for a proper eye examination, but she didn’t answer. (It turns out she was doing an emergency procedure).

They wound up sending me to the ER. The staff there took my medical history, recorded my symptoms, and hooked me up to blood pressure and pulse monitors. They gave me a vision test, which showed my vision was not impaired. They tested my peripheral vision, which was also fine. The latter made retinal tear or detachment less likely.

Finally, they found someone to actually look inside my eye. They rolled in one of those gizmos you see in any eye doctors office, like when you get tested for glasses. You put your chin in it, and they shine this dazzling light in your eye while they go, “Hmmm,” and otherwise make unsettling noises.

At the end of the day–literally: I was there six hours–my examine was “unremarkable,” i.e., the diagnosis was no “retinal damage.” Instead, the physician said it was most likely a “vitreous event.” When I asked, what this seems to mean is that the jelly-like substance in my right eye had formed a little glop of extra-dense goop, accounting for the fixed floater. When I moved my eye, it would sometimes bump against the retina, which caused the flashes.

The cause of the glop? Unknown. But, back to WebMD, age is the number one ssuspect. I’ll be 70 in March, so there’s that. It also says you can reduce floaters by staying hydrated. Well, I recently added the diabetic medication Jardiance to the cocktail of pills I take every morning. It works by flushing sugar out through the kidneys, so of course that means you, uh, pee more. Like, a LOT more. I’ve been drinking more fluids, too, but I conjecture this might be related.

In any case, the attending in the ER arranged a follow-up appointment with an ophthalmologist on Monday, just to be sure. I’ll keep you posted!

So, that’s how I spent my Saturday. At least I was able to use my phone while sitting in the ER to watch my Sooners beat Baylor.