Alex's story

I will never forget that day. It was a beautiful spring afternoon in New York City and my partner and I were getting ready to see an outdoor opera by a pier. The opera had as its background the deep blue sky. I started to notice “worms” floating around the sky as I moved my eyes. My first reaction was to think there was something on my glasses. After exhaustively cleaning my glasses, I realized that something was going on with my vision. I remember feeling confused and scared during the whole opera performance. I kept looking around the pier and could not understand why these “worms” became so visible in the sky but less so, say, against a building.

The opera finished, it was getting dark, and we took the train back home. On my way to the subway, I noticed that I could see my floaters less and less as the sun had almost set. I was relieved, thinking that most likely it was something “strange” and temporary that had messed with my vision. As the days passed and the floaters didn’t disappear, I started to get increasingly worried, although I still wanted to believe that it was something temporary and that the symptoms would soon go away. When I learned that a possible cause of a sudden onset of floaters is a retinal tear, I was alarmed and I made an appointment with a specialist.

The eye doctor saw me soon after. I was relieved to learn that it wasn’t a retinal tear and that it was “just floaters.” When I got home, I remember feeling “trapped” by this condition as it sank in that these floaters were unlikely to be temporary or to go away by themselves.

The summer that followed was extremely challenging for me. I just couldn’t understand how anybody could get used to severe floaters. I remember feeling immense dread in the morning right before going outside to go to work. Going outside made it so evident how bad my floaters were. I started to avoid bright lights or places with open skies like the beach, which I’d used to adore.

After some months, and after connecting with a great therapist who helped me manage the anxiety, I started to feel confident that I could handle this condition better. I have always loved exercising, especially lifting weights, which I had stopped doing due to the COVID pandemic. I started to go regularly to a gym nearby. The first few times I went were very difficult as the gym has really bright lights. But after a while I started to tolerate my floaters more and more at the gym, and now a routine has set in. More importantly, my anxiety levels have gone down significantly and I started to feel more in control of my life.

I am currently managing the condition by continuing to exercise, spending time with friends and family, pursuing my hobbies, and remembering to relax! Recently I have become very hopeful that researchers will develop better options for treating floaters in the future. I feel encouraged by knowing that many eye doctors are becoming more sensitive to this condition and its hardships, although still much work needs to be done. I also feel encouraged by how welcoming and supportive fellow floater sufferers can be. 

Developing severe eye floaters has changed my life. I still have bad days, but they are mostly overshadowed by days where my floaters don’t impede me from doing the things that bring me fulfillment and joy.