Anyone who has suddenly developed floaters should receive an urgent eye assessment, as should anyone who has developed floaters that interfere with their vision. This is because floaters can be either due to or associated with potentially serious eye conditions. For example a posterior vitreous detachment may cause a retinal tear with the risk of a retinal detachment.




Pic : A retinal tear and retinal detachment resulting from a posterior vitreous detachment.


A haemorrhage in the eye could result form a retinal tear, complications of diabetes or other serious eye condition and require treatment (see below). Individuals who develop inflammatory floaters have usually got a significant underlying eye disease which needs to be identified and treated (see below). These conditions are explained in more detail below.
In the majority of cases it is likely that no other sight threatening condition will be found.