Are annoying “flies before the eyes” a sign of an eye disease?

The interior of the eye is filled with a transparent structure called the vitreous body (lat. corpus vitrei). It is a gel that is mostly (99%) made up of water in which specifically distributed collagen fibers, hyaluronic acid and other proteins are dissolved. The role of the vitreous body is to ensure the shape of the eyeball, a firm support for the inner layers of the eye and the transport of oxygen from the blood vessels of the posterior segment of the eye to its front parts.

In young people, the vitreous body is completely transparent. During life, in some people earlier, and in some later, physiological blurring, popularly known as “flies” (lat. muscae volitantes, engl. floaters) appear (Figure 1). These are blurs of different shapes (like moving streaks, spikes, etc.), best noticeable when looking at a light background (white wall, clear sky). These blurs are not treated, they do not pose a danger to our vision and over time our brain gets used to their constant presence in the field of vision and begins to ignore them.

However, it often happens that opacities of the vitreous body are a sign of serious diseases of the eye such as inflammation, separation of the layer of the eye apples or retinal ablation(this vision-threatening phenomenon is sometimes preceded by flashes like lightning or fine changes in the field of vision in the form of smoke or scattered dots, which are warning signs). Vitreous opacities can also be a sign of bleeding and injuries inside the eye, diseases of the blood vessels of the eye, and can also be the result of diseases of other organs such as diabetes and unregulated high blood pressure, blood diseases, deposition of pathological or accumulated normal blood molecules (Figure 2 and Figure 3). 

It is advised that in the event of moving and immobile forms in the eye notify an ophthalmologist who will perform a detailed examination of the wide pupils, and if necessary, an ultrasound examination of the eye, as well as additional analyzes and examinations.