floaters and spots concerns

[Knight]

Yeah, I noticed something in my vision today, everything else is fine but it's only really noticable if I'm looking at something bright, like my monitor or out the window.
I was told to be aware of 'floaters' especially in my grafted eye but I feel no pain, irritation and it isn't red, just one small vague greyish spot, it tracks with my eyesight but not fixed if that makes sense. Also if I lean over, bend my head to look at my feet, I see slight pulsating flashes, at first there was 2 now I can count 4 - I think I'm 'seeing' my stitches?
Althou I am prone to ocular migraines - often without the dreaded intense nail-jamming pain - which give me some weird sight issues, little black spots, pin prinks of sparkling light and my focus jumps from normal to direct front of my eye, this thing today 'looks' different, but then again I've a new cornea so maybe I am just seeing it different.
Any time I take an ocular migraines it has always been confined to my left eye but I have phoned the hospital to be sure and been informed that they don't think its an emergency, I've to see my surgeon first thing in the morning anyway, so they said things will be ok even if I wait until then but to keep tabs on this - if I start seeing dark clouding thou I've to get my lazy ass down to the Eye ER pronto.
I'm searching some stuff now, but I always thought 'floaters' was to do with the retina itself but it seems to mean something else (or worse) with a graft.
Has anyone else experienced these 'floaters' and what exactly are they as far as a graft is concerned?

[Prue B]

I also felt I saw my stitches post graft occasionally. When I was little I used to watch amoeba shaped things in the corner of my room. They were pink yellow green and blue and danced. This was before I had eye issues. I have not seen them for years, but when I close my eyes I have floaters that are small and grey. My childhood ones were large up to a foot long. The grey floater have been more prominent since my grafts. My opthal has never been concerned and now they are just me. Dont know if that helps.
Thinking about it I want my childhood ones back they were pretty. I always thought they were ghosts or spirits.

[Asif]

Kinight

As far as I know, floaters are linked with vitreous/retinal detachement. I have always had one or two since I can remember, but never everyday. I have now noticed one occasional floater in my grafted eye right in the centre of my vision, but I dont think this has anything to do with the graft itself, unless the floater you described may be something else.

[GarethB]

Afetr any eye surgery floaters are quite common. It is basically debris from the surgery itself, such as ruff edges from where incisions and injections were made in the eye itself.

I still get them now and again, they are of putting when you first see them, but you get used to it.

If you see lots of floaters after a star burst effect that is sign of retinal issues.

Should you still be concernedgive the eye unit a call.

[Andrew MacLean]

Knight

When light shone in my eye I could see the little circle of stitches sparkling. I mentioned this to my opthalmologist and he was a bit dismissive until I said "they are blue". He then paid more attention!

Floaters could be microscopic bits of debris, or they may even be cells tracking across the surface of your eye.

As to the pulsing flahses, I guess this could be the effect of your own pulse. If your IOP varied, then at the high end of your 'normal' range, the beating of your heart may put slight extra tension on your stitches, hence your experience of a slight variation of light being admitted to your eye.

Oh, by the way, thank you for that beautiful soliloquy the other day when you noticed the return of your sight. It was so good to be allowed to share that wonderful moment with you.

Yours aye

Andrew

[Knight]

Thank you all for the replies, it does settle me heaps knowing and hearing similar stuff like this from another's perspective - that's the idea behind a KC self help and support forum I guess so that in its own right I am grateful (daily) - I tend to just get uptight from time to time concerning about this all sometimes...

@ Andrew, you mentioned there about the beat of my heart, I do have a faster than normal pulse (unrelated issue) atm due to palpitations, coming under control slowly but sometimes it gets so strong it can hurt my throat so probably, that as well didn't help today's episode, I'm still seeing the 'floaters' but it seems to be less visible ... and thank you for the kind words regarding my other post, I am happy to share those moments, express them but happier people like to read them at all!
Nearly all my posts I write offline atm, because mostly I can't look at my monitor for much so, I write a bit at a time into a word.doc then paste it (which if anyone has noticed, is why my posts seem to be alot longer than normal lol) but I felt I got carried away and I often have to reign myself in - my 'journal' of my entire experience surrounding my operation I hope to post soon, but I'm waiting to get some proper medical information so its informative and not just an account.

[Per]

Knight.

I had the same experience ca 1 month post op. I was told there were areas in the cornea less transparent due to oedema ("ødem" in my language). These differences are gone now, it clears up equally all over the graft part of the cornea throughout the day.

[Lynn White]

Hi Knight!

The thing with eyes is that they are designed such that your retinal receptors, the cells that actually transmit info to your brain, lie underneath retinal tissue, underneath blood vessels, vitreous gel, the lens, the aqueous humour in the anterior chamber and the cornea.. in other words there is a heck of a lot between you and the outside world! You have to literally "see" through all that lot!

Many floaters are literally, as Gareth says, bits of debris from surgery.. but they can be a result of the internal gel becoming more mobile and liquid with age. Bits and pieces that were stationary and off centre from your direct line of sight can start to drift around if the internal gel becomes more iquid as you get older.

Flashes and sparkling can be due to the pull of your eye muscles - especiallyif you are stressed.. adn soemtiem the more you worry about these things the mworse they get.

If its any consolation to you.. I have a big floater in my right eye that bugs me when I read or drive.. and I have a "normal" eye... it drives me crazy but its harmless and normal.

Floaters have been known for a long time. The ancient Greeks termed them "muscantes volantes" Literally "Flying flies". You can also "see" natural phenomena like your own circulation.. though I won't go on too much about that as once you start looking for all these things you can't stop seeing them hehe!

Lynn

[Knight]

All these replies, especially yesterday really helped settle my worries, I do tend to get carried away with it and I googled everything, which leads to even more curiosities ... Lynn your full and detailed reply was very informative and explained some key parts that really put my mind to rest. I am not sure if I have ever seen my own circulation, but sorry, I am curious now, in the past with both lenses out and trying to watch TV, often I'd see a slight throbbing vibration which was in timing with my heart beating usually right on the threshold of my peripheral vision - sometimes when it was really heavy beating I could 'feel' it as well. I was told I could sense it more because my corneas were much thinner than usual and it was nothing to worry about, I don't and lately it’s a rare thing to happen…

[Lynn White]

Hehe Knight...

Well what you describe here is really you are "seeing" your pulse. With all the blood vessels in and around the eye the wonder is that we don't get confused by it all the time. The peripheral retina is more sensitive to motion and flicker than the central areas - especially when you have your lenses and are blurred - you are then literally relying on your peripheral vision more.

What I was talking about was you can sometimes see bright circular dots whizzing around in a tight circle centrally... usually if you have your eyes closed. Thats the corpuscles in your bloodstream you are seeing.... but don't blame me if you now start seeing it

Thing with these effects - the more you try and work out what they are the more stubborn they are at disappearing. Thats why professionals always say forget about them but I know it is hard to do that.

Let me explain a little further. All of these inner workings of the eye are usually "drowned out" by the rich tapestry of detail of what you are looking at. Unfortunately, KCers spend a lot of time without specs or lenses and when they do are often extremely blurred, so these effects can actually intrude more than with other people with "normal" prescriptions - its when you can't see clearly enough to distract you.

Being very short sighted myself, one of the things that used to worry me as a child was that when lying in bed and looking through my bedroom door at the hall light... it seemed to be a huge ball of lights which actually expanded and contracted... if I caught it at the edge of the door itself - it made the door look like it was swinging too and fro. Used to scare the bejeezus out of me! It wasn't till I became an optom I realised this was the effect of my pupil constricting and dilating and of course, I couldn't see it with my glasses on!

Lynn