floaters
[flo´ters] “spots before the eyes”; deposits in the vitreous of the eye, usually moving about and probably representing fine aggregates of vitreous protein occurring as a benign degenerative change.
Miller-Keane Encyclopedia and Dictionary of Medicine, Nursing, and Allied Health, Seventh Edition. © 2003 by Saunders, an imprint of Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.
floaters
Semitransparent, shadowy bodies seen in the field of vision, usually remote from the point of observation, and moving rapidly with eye movement. For centuries, floaters have been called ‘muscae volitantes’ because of their resemblance to flitting flies. Most floaters are shadows of developmental remnants in the jelly-like VITREOUS HUMOUR of the eye and are harmless. Sudden onset of very conspicuous dark floaters, especially if accompanied by flashes of light (phosphenes) suggest an incipient RETINAL DETACHMENT.Collins Dictionary of Medicine © Robert M. Youngson 2004, 2005
Floaters
Translucent specks that float across the visual field, due to small objects floating in the vitreous humor.
Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
floaters
Heterogeneities in the vitreous humour which may be of embryonic origin or pathological (e.g. in posterior vitreous detachment, retinal detachment, vitritis, asteroid hyalosis). The patient sees spots which float as the eye moves. Floaters are common in normal old eyes.
Syn. vitreous floaters.
See iritis;
muscae volitantes;
myiodesopsia;
photopsia;
lattice degeneration of the retina;
cytomegalovirus retinitis;
uveitis;
vitritis.
Millodot: Dictionary of Optometry and Visual Science, 7th edition. © 2009 Butterworth-Heinemann