Eye-floater

[Daisies22]

I was wondering if anyone has developed an eye-floater as a result of taking anti-Parkinson's medication?Thank you.

[Boscoejean]

my husband developed eye floaters a long time before being diagnosed with Parkinson's. He has macular puckers in the back of both eyes. These definitely affect vision. Recently there was an article talking about how an eye scan can be done to detect Parkinson's early.

Structural and functional changes in the retina in Parkinson’s disease

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

nei.nih.gov/learn-about-eye....

[Daisies22 in reply to Boscoejean]

Thank you so much for your quick reply and the links! I was not aware that such changes in the eye could be used as markers for early diagnosis of Parkinson's. Not something one is hoping to hear but still I'm impressed as an eye test is such a simple and quick examination.

Thank you once again.

[134A in reply to Daisies22]

I was recently informed by an allergist that eye floaters are caused by parasites of which most of us have a few.

[Daisies22 in reply to 134A]

If this was the case wouldn't I have the parasites in both my eyes by now?

[134A in reply to 134A]

Good point! I don’t know 🤔

[jeffmayer]

Yes for a number of years they don't seem to impact daily life

[Daisies22 in reply to jeffmayer]

Thanks.

[rebtar]

if you suddenly develop a significant amount of floaters, you should immediately get your eyes checked. Especially if it is accompanied by what seems like peripheral light flashes,

It can be a detached or starting to detach retina, happened to me.

If caught and treated early, it doesn’t impair vision.

[Daisies22 in reply to rebtar]

Thank you for your reply.A week ago I started noticing one floater only which changes shape, size, and colour. In the dark I do occasionally see bright flashes especially when I'm stressed out.

Do you mind me asking what your treatment involved? I'm only asking because I am house bound at the moment due to my Parkinson's symptoms not being under control. I simply can't get to a hospital and am missing appointments.

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply!

Best wishes.

[rebtar in reply to Daisies22]

That's precisely what I had, and it was a detached retina which if not treated can result in blindness. You should get it checked ASAP. Treatment is a brief laser treatment which isn't painful or particularly uncomfortable, but the healing is bothersome in that depending on the location of the detachment, you may have to keep your head in a certain position most of the time for several days or weeks...I had to lie on my side for about a week.

Mine was also provoked by stress.

[Daisies22 in reply to rebtar]

Thank you for the information! I was hoping that the floater would just resolve itself with time but it's been a week and things are not improving.Just one more thing to worry about.

Hope you have made a full recovery.

Best wishes.

D.

[rebtar in reply to Daisies22]

I did. It may be nothing. What happens is that as we age, the aqueous humor inside the eye loses it's liquidity and shrinks, sometimes pulling part of the retina with it. Floaters are common, but when they appear or increase suddenly especially with light flashes, it's a red flag.

[Despe]

Anyone can get those floaters. I discovered (my ophthalmologist) I had a floater in my left eye long time ago (10-15 years ago). I don't have it any longer.

[Daisies22 in reply to Despe]

This is what I was hoping too. Unfortunately, I'm getting worse. I'm shortsighted and noticed a worrying change in my vision so I think I should get it checked.D.

[Despe in reply to Daisies22]

Yes, check it out, but it's not serious enough to worry. After a while, even if you still have it, you get so used to it, you forget it's there.

[Daisies22 in reply to Despe]

It's just that it changes shape and size, and even colour, I didn't expect that!Hopefully, it's not anything sinister...

Thanks again.

[MarionP in reply to Daisies22]

Everybody's condition is unique, you really now should be getting your eyes checked by an ophthalmologist. That's the lesson of all of the responses today. The second is to not worry without necessity until then, because by themselves floaters is something like your hair is getting gray or getting thinner with age. Meanwhile, if you have any big problems you will find out about them soon enough from that ophthalmologist.

[gomelgo]

I get light flashes in certain poisitions. This is scary ... I don't think I would be able to keep still for days or weeks!!!

[Daisies22 in reply to gomelgo]

Detached retina sounds less frightening to me than PD! So perhaps you would cope with a week in bed much easier than you think you could. 😁

[MarionP]

I developed of some of these two years ago, my ophthalmologist examined me and said it was normal aging and not to worry about it, but since I had one or two other little symptoms (flashing lights on occasion) referred me to retinal specialist, who did an examination and then said "normal aging and you can't do anything about it, even I get the floaters. It's just material sloughing off and over time, the liquid in your eyes will consume them, more will show up. Consider it not." Confirmed a year later by a different ophthalmologist.

After a few months the light flashes dissipated in one way. Haven't had them since.

In the meantime, the floaters come, they stick around and float around, sometimes two or three at a time, and then a few weeks later they are gone. And sometime later a couple more show up and carries on same way.

Well that was in my case, because the opthamologist had to perform a regular typical examination for everything before concluding. So that means that you go and get your examination by an ophthalmologist and then carry on with that.

[Daisies22 in reply to MarionP]

Thank you so much for sharing your experience. Like I said, hopefully is nothing sinister. Getting Parkinson's at the age of 49 is bad enough.D.