Floating particles: their cause and treatment
A very common manifestation of imperfect vision is a phenomenon that has already been mentioned and which is known as muscae volitantes, or a symptom of "flying flies".These floating particles usually have a dark or black color, but sometimes they appear to be white bubbles. In rare cases, they can be almost all the colors of the rainbow. They move rather quickly( usually along the curve of the trajectory) before the eyes and always appear to be outside the fixation point. If a person tries to look directly at them, it will seem that they are slightly moved away from the observer. Hence their name.
The literature on this subject is full of speculation regarding the source of these manifestations. Some authors attributed them to the presence of floating particles of dead cells or cell debris in the vitreous body, a transparent substance filling 4/5 of the eyeball behind the transparent lens. It was believed that the presence of such particles on the surface of the cornea of the eye also causes their appearance. In addition, they assumed that they can be caused by the passage of tears through the cornea of the eye.
These "flies" are so common in myopia that it was assumed that they are one of the symptoms of this condition, although they can be observed in other refractive errors, as well as in the case of eyes normal in all other respects. Their appearance was attributed to circulatory and digestive disorders, as well as kidney disease. Because a huge number of mentally ill people also suffer from them, it has been suggested that they are evidence of the initial stage of psychosis. They thrived on the business of producing medicines. It was also difficult to assess the mental torture that they caused. This is well illustrated by the following medical history.
One priest, who was greatly annoyed by the continuous appearance of floating particles before his eyes, his oculist said that they are a symptom of kidney disease and that often retinal disease can serve as an early symptom of any troubles with the kidneys. This was the reason for his regular visits to the oculist. When the doctor died, the priest immediately began looking for someone else who could check his eyes from time to time. The family doctor of the priest sent him to me.
I was not as famous as his previous ophthalmologist, but it so happened that I once taught this family doctor to use an ophthalmoscope, while others could not do it. Based on this, he concluded that I should know quite a lot about the application of this tool. Moreover, the priest especially wanted someone to conduct a complete examination of his fundus and immediately detect any signs of kidney disease, which can cause the appearance of floating particles. That's how he got to me. After meeting him, I carefully examined his eyes. The priest was pleased, as I could not detect any abnormalities in his eyes. Nevertheless, he periodically came to me with the sole purpose of rechecking.
One day, when I was not in town, he got ash in his eye, and he went to another oculist to extract it. When I returned home late at night, I found him sitting at the threshold of my house in the hope that I might return. His story caused pity. The new doctor examined his eyes with an ophthalmoscope and suggested the possibility of glaucoma, describing this disease as treacherous, which can lead him to blindness and which is painfully painful. He drew attention to what the patient had already talked about before, namely, the possibility of kidney disease, noting at the same time that the liver and heart could be affected. The doctor advised the priest to carefully check all these organs.
I performed another general examination of his eyes, paying special attention to intraocular pressure. He was given the opportunity to compare his eyeballs to mine so that he could make sure that they did not become hard as a stone. In the end, I managed to calm him down.
In another case, one man, returning somehow from Europe, looked at the white clouds and noticed that before his eyes appeared some floating particles. He consulted a ship's doctor who said that this symptom is very serious and can be a harbinger of blindness. It can also serve as a sign of the initial stage of psychosis and other nervous or organic diseases. He was advised, as soon as he went ashore, to consult a family doctor and some eye disease specialist, which he did.
25 years have passed since then, but I will never forget that awful state of nervousness and fear that this person has plagued himself after he visited me. The state was worse than in the case of the priest, who was always ready to admit that his fears were groundless. I checked the eyes of this man very carefully and found them absolutely normal. His vision was excellent both at the near point, and for distant objects. Perception of color, field of vision and intraocular pressure-everything was in order. Under a strong magnifying glass I could not detect any opacities in the vitreous body of his eyes. In short, there were no symptoms of any disease.
I told him that he had everything in order with his eyes, and he showed the newspaper advertisement of a single healer's remedy. A significant part of the advertisement was occupied with the description of terrible things, which, most likely, will follow after the appearance of floating particles before your eyes, if a person does not immediately take the medicine in question. The medicine cost one dollar for a vial. I noticed that this advertisement, which every day appeared in all major newspapers of the city and, probably, in other cities, should cost a lot of money. Therefore, it should also bring such an income. It is obvious that there must be a lot of people suffering from this symptom, and if it really was as serious as it is believed, then the world would be full of blind and crazy people. But this is not so!
My patient left quite reassured, but by eleven o'clock( and his first visit was at nine o'clock) he returned. He still saw the floating particles, and they still worried him. I rechecked his eyes as carefully as before, and again convinced him that they were in perfect order. In the afternoon I was not in the office, but I was told that he was there twice - at 3:00 and at 5:00.At 7 o'clock he came again, taking with him his family doctor, my old friend. I said to the latter: "Please make him sit at home. I have to take money from him for his visits, because he takes a lot of time from me, but I'm ashamed to do it, because he's all right. "I do not know what my friend told him, but I did not see this man more.
I did not know then about muscae volitantes as much as I know now, otherwise I could save both of the above people from excessive excitement. I could tell them that their eyes are normal, but I did not know how to get rid of these symptoms, which are just an illusion caused by mental stress. The appearance of particles is largely due to substantially poor eyesight, since those whose vision is imperfect always make an effort to see. But people whose eyesight is normally normal, can also occasionally see floating particles, since no one's eyes have normal vision all the time. Most people will be able to see muscae voSi-tantes if they look at the sun or some uniform bright surface such as a sheet of white paper, on which sunlight falls. This is due to the fact that people are straining when they look at such surfaces.
In other words, particles are never visible if the eyes and brain are not strained. In this case, they always disappear when the voltage can be removed. If a person can recall a small letter on the checklist using the method of central fixation, the particles will immediately disappear or cease to move. But if a person tries to remember two or more letters equally well at the same time, they will reappear and resume their movement.
Usually the stress that causes muscae voli-tantes is very easily removed. One teacher, who suffered from their appearance for a number of years, turned to me because of a significant aggravation of this condition. Half an hour later I was able to improve my vision to a norm, which was slightly myopic. As a result, the particles disappeared. The next day they reappeared, but a second visit to my office brought relief. After that, the teacher learned to do exercises at home and did not face any problems.
One physician, constantly suffering from headaches and muscae voSitantes, had only 20/70 vision when examining the check table. In this case, the retinoscope showed mixed astigmatism, and the patient saw the particles. When he looked at a blank empty wall or a clean white card, the retinoscope still showed mixed astigmatism, and he still saw the particles. But when he, looking at these surfaces, remembered so well the black point that he had seen it with his own eyes, the particles had completely disappeared, and the retinoscope had stopped showing any refraction anomaly. A few days later he completely got rid of astigmatism, muscae voli-tantes and headaches, as well as from chronic conjunctivitis( inflammation of the conjunctiva of the eye).His eyes, which were half-closed, opened wide, and the sclera became white and clean. He could read on the train without any inconvenience and, what impressed him most of all, he could now sit all night long with his patients without any problems with his eyes the next day.