MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

I have annoying floaters in my eyeballs as I look in my microscopes. I know they are in my eyes because I'd view with one eye through my monocular Leitz, switch eyes, and see that the floaters have changed. The floaters in one eye might be spots, and in the others thread like filaments. On another day they might be a combination of shapes. They slowly drift back and forth. I've turned the eyepiece and the objective, and no floaters follow the movement. I just got a clean bill of health from the optometrist. I seem to notice them alot more when using higher magnification objectives. I didn't think to ask my optometrist this, but does every microscopist experience this?

Keith.

floaters are definitely more prominent when looking at a bright image through an eyepiece. More bothersome is an astigmatism in my right eye that creates a blurry spot right in the middle of my field of vision. Amazing how well the brain can compensate for these in day-to-day activity!

keithstout wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 23, 2020 5:07 pm

I have annoying floaters in my eyeballs as I look in my microscopes.
[...] but does every microscopist experience this?

Keith.

.
Very common I'm afraid, Keith

Experiment with your illumination settings until you find what works best for you.

MichaelG.

A lot of people do not realize they have them until they look though a microscope, binoculars, etc ...

Changing the angle one looks through the eyepieces by adjusting chair height and posture helps.

Would putting a few saline drops in your eyes before a viewing session help flush the floaters out? I know you can’t eliminate them. I just wonder if you minimize them. Maybe I’ll try this the next time they are very conspicuous.

Zuul wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 23, 2020 7:20 pm

Would putting a few saline drops in your eyes before a viewing session help flush the floaters out?

‘fraid not ... they are inside the eye, in the vitreous humour.

MichaelG.

All of this is very helpful. Thank you so much. I'll try these ideas to see if I can reduce them. I'll post my results when I learn something. I did think about eyedrops before viewing, but w have an answer for that.

Keith

Floaters are inside your eye. There is nothing you can put in your eyes that will get rid of them.

The best option is to learn to ignore them. If they're bad, the next best option is laser vitriolysis, where a YAG laser is used by an ophthalmologist to disrupt them as much as possible. There are four or five ophthalmologists in the US that will do the procedure that have a lot of experience. Laser vitriolysis can't be used if the floaters are near either the front of the eye or near the retina as the risk of damage goes way up. I had it done 11 years ago and again ('cause they can come back...) a couple months ago. I doubt I'd trust newbies.

The last option is vitrectomy, which is a fairly risky procedure where the vitrious gel, which contains the floaters, is removed. Cataracts, infections, and detached retinas are potential side effects.

Most ophthalmologists won't see them during routine exams, and will tell you to learn to live with them if you complain. Unless they're really bad, that's good advice. If they don't bother you normally, get a camera for your microscope and look at a monitor most of the time, and learn to ignore them. It's cheaper that way anyhow.

I have no connection with Mayo Clinic ... but this is a good description of ‘floaters’

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-con ... c-20372346#

MichaelG.

Cordial Greetings
I read this some time ago about it and the video explains a little bit about what happens and why they are there.

I hope I don't misinform.

https://ed.ted.com/lessons/what-are-tho ... ser#review

You might find the floaters easier to for your brain to ignore by viewing through a binocular rather than monocular microscope? Just to posit a theory -- your brain gets two images to average?

Proper Kohler illumination may also help.

I'd find them very prominent in an antique monocular microscope with a mirror as the light source. Don't notice them with any modern binocular microscope.

75RR wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 23, 2020 6:57 pm

Changing the angle one looks through the eyepieces by adjusting chair height and posture helps.

My own IMPRESSION is the floaters are less annoying when using dark field observation In your scope: it is worth trying YMMV though.

MichaelG. wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 24, 2020 6:28 am

I have no connection with Mayo Clinic ... but this is a good description of ‘floaters’

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-con ... c-20372346#

MichaelG.

This is spot on, Michael, like it was written for me. Thank you so much.

PeteM wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 25, 2020 3:45 pm

You might find the floaters easier to for your brain to ignore by viewing through a binocular rather than monocular microscope? Just to posit a theory -- your brain gets two images to average?

Proper Kohler illumination may also help.

I'd find them very prominent in an antique monocular microscope with a mirror as the light source. Don't notice them with any modern binocular microscope.

You're right, Pete. When I use my binocular Leitz, the floaters are far less noticeable. The seduction of it all is the optimum contrast and definition afforded by the monocular design married with apo/plano objectives. The image quality is irresistible! I use my binocular for diatom picking and herding. I suppose when the floaters show up in daily vision, I'll be ready for a new set of eyeballs.

When I got back into microscopy a few years ago I was shocked at the number of floaters I saw. I’ve gotten used to it now and they don’t bother me.

I’ve been thinking about getting back into amateur astronomy again and am wondering if floaters are an issue when observing with telescopes? Anyone have any experience with this?

JGardner wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 31, 2020 7:00 am

When I got back into microscopy a few years ago I was shocked at the number of floaters I saw. I’ve gotten used to it now and they don’t bother me.

I’ve been thinking about getting back into amateur astronomy again and am wondering if floaters are an issue when observing with telescopes? Anyone have any experience with this?

Astronomy is one of my many hobbies and I always see floaters while using high powered eyepieces.

Right you are. The lower the eyepiece magnification, the lesser the problem with floaters. And yes, I had to learn to ignore the effect of my slight degree of macular degeneration.
Greg

Are you using large wide angle eyepieces? With my swift 380t floaters are a non issue for the most part. But then I upgraded to another microscope that had bigger eyepieces and for some reason the bigger eye pieces make the floater issue vastly worse. But I just hook my microscope camera up to a monitor for live viewing so it doesn't matter anyway.

When it bugs me I connect a camera. Large screen. Distance from my eyes. No floaters.
Greg

I have some mild problems with floaters when observing the moon, and to a lesser extent the planets, at exit pupils below 1 mm. No problems when observing DSO whatsoever.

I found that they are a big issue in microscopy when using my monocular scope (the only one I own) and magnification beyond 400x. The white background, low light conditions, and ultra small exit pupil combine to make the floaters quite evident. I found that if I close my observing eye or switch to dark field for about 15 or 30 seconds, when I switch back to high power bright field the floaters will be gone for a while. When pupil constriction occurs again, the floaters will also come back.

It seems to me -and this is only my experience- that the amount of integrated light, determined by the size of the exit pupil, is directly related to the appearance of floaters. In other words, very small exit pupils won't integrate enough light to hide the floaters in the long term, despite the brightness of the target.

this summer i had an internal eye hemorrhage....took about 3 months for the blood to filter out....it was like having my own bubble level when i looked up or down...the blood is gone but i still have what looks like a clear film plastic bag in a bottle looking thing that floats around...if i move my eye around i can get it to move out of the center for a while. then i messed up my other eye...just can win

I find that "floaters" are worse with higher magnifications and featureless bright backgrounds. I wonder if they're reflected by the bright illumination, back into some part of the optical path. Might floater issue be a function of tube length? Do infinity scopes "see" floaters worse than 160 scopes? hmmmmm.......

EYE C U wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 10, 2021 4:00 am

this summer i had an internal eye hemorrhage....took about 3 months for the blood to filter out....it was like having my own bubble level when i looked up or down...the blood is gone but i still have what looks like a clear film plastic bag in a bottle looking thing that floats around...if i move my eye around i can get it to move out of the center for a while. then i messed up my other eye...just can win

I thought my floaties were a distraction, but THAT sounds pretty crappy. Time for the 4K video link!

micro wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 03, 2021 4:43 pm

Are you using large wide angle eyepieces? With my swift 380t floaters are a non issue for the most part.
But then I upgraded to another microscope that had bigger eyepieces
and for some reason the bigger eye pieces make the floater issue vastly worse.

Different eyepieces seemingly affect floaters differently, but not necessarily based on FoV.
I have Nikon CFWN 10X/20M eyepieces and generic Chinese WF10X-20mm eyepieces
that are similar enough to both work on Optiphot (finite) and AO 120 (infinity) microscopes,
but floaters with the Nikons in all cases seem more aggravating than the Chinese,
which appear to have greater relief.
Floaters certainly have not disappeared with any eyepieces tried,
but seem more easily ignored with some.

Thank you all for this thread - I'M NORMAL!

I get something like that. I always think it is my eye lashes so I move a tad.

had another eye bleed 4 moths ago..had 4th set of shots just today..nothing more fun than needles in your eyeballs..weeeeeeee...you can see the medicine till it dissolves into you eye fluid..it has slowly gotten rid of more and more of my floater material but still a ways to go. the other option is to suck it out and replace with saline but that is an ugly operation..

I am with

Greg Howald

, I find floaters way to distracting at high mag, I have trouble detecting movement / motion in the sample from the floaters moving with eyeball activity.
So I use a mobile phone camera on the eyepiece and and view using that at high mag, problem solved, though the field of view is less.