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Floaters

Aka: Floaters, Entopsias

See Also
1. Light Flashes (Photopsias)
Epidemiology
1. Common over age 35 years
Pathophysiology
1. Detachment of vitreous base
Symptoms
1. Fine dots or strings in visual field
2. Cobwebs, clouds or strings in visual field
Differential Diagnosis
1. Retinal Detachment (abrupt and severe floater onset)
2. Posterior Vitreous Detachment
  1. Risk for Retinal Detachment
3. Diabetic Retinopathy
4. Intraocular hemorrhage
5. Uveitis
Management
1. Ophthalmology to evaluate differential diagnosis
  1. Patient should be seen within one week of onset
2. Refer especially high-risk groups
  1. Near-sighted
  2. Diabetes Mellitus
  3. Previous Retinal disease
References
1. Noble (2001) Primary Care Medicine, p. 1701
2. Gariano (2004) Am Fam Physician 69:1691-8

Family Practice Notebook

Patients should address specific medical concerns with their physicians.

Although access to this page is not restricted, the information found here is intended for use by medical providers.

This page was written by Scott Moses, MD, last revised on 10/21/2007 and last published on 5/18/2012.

This is one of 5740 pages in the Family Practice Notebook