Bill Harvey: Float

Like many of you, I am sure, I have developed quite a few floaters over the years. Their onset has been gradual, they do not hinder my vision (except if trying to swat a really small fly), and I have accepted them as a minor distraction as I continue to negotiate the increasingly surprising challenges that life throws at me.

I confess that my own, unremarkable experience of floaters and their impact may have biased my opinion somewhat and, perhaps, been a little too dismissive when patients have mentioned their distress caused by their vitreous degeneration. Obviously, I am talking here of the moving shadows caused by the increasing numbers of collagen strands that precipitate within the increasingly watery vitreous over time.