Have you heard of eye floaters? Well, these occur when you have deposits in your vitreous. These deposits cast shadows on the retina, thereby affecting your line of vision. These are what you see as floaters. They could result from a myriad of causes, including aging, retinopathy, retinal detachment, and retinal tears, among others.

Coping with the presence of these deposits can be quite hard at first. However, over time, you notice them less, and this allows you to resume the activities you enjoyed in the past. If they do not seem to reduce over time or you cannot get used to them, this can cause you a lot of anxiety.

In this case, you should seek medical attention to see if an underlying condition could be the cause of this. If nothing is amiss, you can work on alleviating their presence by adopting either natural or medical remedies.

You should note, though, that most people learn to live with floaters such that they barely notice them. If you give them time, you should be fine.

Can you reduce eye floaters with natural remedies?

When people face a medical issue, most of the time, they want a quick fix. Some people will reach for a pain killer each time they have a headache. While it works, it also reduces your body’s ability to fight off pain. Over time, you become dependent on the pills.

You should seek natural means to a problem first before embracing the medical approach. In the case of floaters, the latter is always an option. Where the floaters arise owing to aging and other natural causes, surgery is not necessary.

But where you have an underlying condition, it may be the only way out. An example would be where your retina has a tear. In this case, you need to seal the tear before it paves the way for retinal detachment. While surgery works, it is a last resort. It has many risks associated with it and is thus best for severe cases.

If you will not take the medical approach, what option is available to you? Natural treatments! You have probably used a natural remedy at some point in your life. Maybe you had a dull ache in your hand, and a friend recommended that you apply a herbal portion.

Or you had a headache, and you slept it off instead of taking a pill for it. If you have, then you know that using natural means can have as lasting effects as using medical treatments.

If you would rather avoid having surgery, then you can use natural ways to reduce the appearance of floaters. Note that this only applies to people to whom surgery is an option. If it is a must in your case, then natural means will not be of help. They cannot take the place of medical interventions.

What is the best thing to do when you have eye floaters? While this might seem odd, you are better off leaving them alone. You see, there is no natural mode of treatment that can make them disappear. That is why the title is ‘how to reduce’ and not ‘how to get rid of.’

Sure, you will come across people who swear by natural means, claiming that they get rid of floaters. What they do is that they reduce the intensity of the floaters. They do not, by any means, get rid of them. That is something you should note before embracing any natural technique.

Nothing but surgery can make the eye floaters go away. Why leave them? Well, when you consider that nothing you do will get rid of them, leaving them be seems like a good idea. The thing is that they will eventually settle out of your line of vision.

Also, your brain will adjust to them such that you no longer notice them as much. Learning how to cope with their existence will reduce your anxiety over them.

Why then should you adopt natural remedies? You are probably wondering why and if you should adopt any natural means to deal with the eye floaters. After all, in some cases, they do go away in entirety. That holds where the floaters are a sign of an underlying condition.

Take bleeding in the eye as an example. Here, the blood will clear up over time once the underlying issue gets resolved. Your sight would be back to what it was before the floaters came about. Do you need natural means to help with this?

Also, if the floaters are here to stay, should you bother trying to reduce them? Well, the answer is yes. Having floaters can be quite uncomfortable. While some people can go about their activities, as usual, others face a great deal of discomfort.

Natural means work in helping you cope with the changes in eyesight while working to settle the floaters. They will not go away unless the cause is no more. You cannot expect floaters arising from old age vitreous detachment to disappear. These will stay. But you can notice them less by adopting natural means. That is the focus of this article. Enjoy:

What to expect of reducing eye floaters naturally?

Overall, using natural means will work to your advantage. For one, you will not aggravate the floaters, and you will thus not put your health at risk. Secondly, natural means involve a positive change in lifestyle. As you notice the floaters less, you will also see other changes in your life. Maybe you need to de-stress, and this is how you get to do it.

Are there any cons to using natural means? Well, yes. You see, with medical approaches, the result is given. The doctors use surgery, and they know what to expect of it. They know what to nip, inject, and all that.

They also know that A, B, and C are likely complications, and they can tell you as much from the onset. You cannot expect the same of natural means. In this case, you rely on information gathered from different sources. Not enough clinical trials on these exist. And even those that do are yet to yield satisfactory results.

You thus do not know how much of something you need to do or eat to see results. What works for one person may not necessarily work for another. Thus, you end up trying one thing after the other, or simultaneously, in the hope of good results. You also need to make some changes in your life, which may be hard to embrace.

Also, the sad part is that some people will not experience any changes in their floaters. Ultimately, you may have to go under the knife, and there is little that you can do about it.

However, there is no harm in trying when you have an opportunity to do so. This trial, though, should not be in place when the cause of the floaters is a medical emergency. An example, in this case, would be where your retina detaches.

Floaters are generally not a cause for worry. However, in some cases, they can indicate that something is not right in your body. Take an example of where you suffer from floaters and can see a dye filling up your eye. It could be an indication of a hemorrhage.

You cannot start thinking of natural remedies at this point. You need to consult a doctor who can diagnose the condition and tell you what needs to get done. Where the cause is not a medical emergency, you can adopt natural remedies, as long as your doctor knows about it.

Where you experience any changes in your eyesight, do not hesitate to consult your doctor on the same. Waiting might cost you more than you think.

What are eye floaters?

All this time, we have gone into possible causes of eye floaters and whether you should embrace natural remedies. The question is, what is an eye floater? People will answer this question differently, based on what they have experienced. Some have seen lines in their vision.

Others have experienced specks, while others see spots that interfere with their image processing. These disruptions owe to deposits in the vitreous, which cast shadows on the retina.

In many cases, they come about owing to aging, and not much can be done about that. In other cases, they may indicate serious health issues. You cannot tell what they mean until you have a thorough eye exam conducted by a licensed professional. The diagnosis will determine your course of action, depending on whether they are harmless or not.

You will find that surgery is only necessary in a few cases. Your doctor will probably recommend that you learn how to live with them. Over time, you will notice them less. And that is where natural remedies come into the picture.

Ways to naturally reduce eye floaters

As stated earlier, the course of action ultimately depends on the cause of the floaters. It also comes down to how severe the condition is. Where the floaters are few, you will not have much trouble when it comes to adapting to their presence. That is not the case when dealing with many floaters. They can be so many such that they negatively affect your vision.

What is the difference here? With a few floaters, you can engage in the activities you like the most, in moderation at first. You can read books, watch TV and take walks, as well as other such activities.

Seeing things is possible, even with the floaters, as they appear as distortions but do not take over the line of vision. That is not the case with severe floaters, as these make it hard for you to focus. While few distortions are an annoyance, many shapes, and forms exhibit as a hindrance. In this case, you would require surgery to deal with the problem.

But that’s the thing, though. While surgery can work in dealing with the problem, many people would prefer avoiding it. It could be that they fear to go under the knife. It could also owe to the likely complications in the process. In this case, you can adopt natural ways of dealing with the floaters.

They will not affect the floaters. Instead, they will improve the health of your eye. As a result, you will not notice the floaters as much as their impact will reduce. Here is what you can do:

Change your Diet

Eating a diet full of anti-inflammatory foods is one way to go. You are what you eat- how many times have you heard that? It could not be more accurate, especially when it comes to inflammation. You might not understand how severe inflammation can be.

However, it is a factor in most eye conditions that affect the eye, among them posterior uveitis. You see, when you suffer from an eye condition, you are likely to experience eye floaters as a symptom. The same goes for inflammation. And the best way to avoid this is by embracing a diet full of anti-inflammatory foods.

Inflammation comes about in many ways. The first is the acute type, where you experience swelling, redness, and pain in the affected area. An example would be where you sprain your ankle out on the field. This inflammation feels like it results from the sprain.

However, it is the body reaction to the impact as it tries to heal the injured area. Yes, that pain is your body healing. Now, the second is chronic inflammation, which takes place at the cellular level. It is quite damaging and is a hindrance to cellular activities. It results in many conditions, among them uveitis, cataracts, and wet macular degeneration.

Most diseases connect. Did you know that you can suffer floaters as a complication of cataract surgery? Now you do. And you can probably prevent this by eating right. Many factors put you at risk of chronic inflammation. They include being inactive, not resting enough, drinking too much alcohol, and being overweight. But today, we focus on what you eat.

How are your eating habits? If you tend to eat sugary foods, fatty meats, and processed foods, you are at risk of inflammation. Now and then, it is okay to indulge your sweet tooth. However, that should not be an everyday thing, and you need to learn how to enjoy yourself in moderation.

First off, you need to avoid high-calorie foods and, instead, consume more vegetables. Each time you feel that you need to grab a bag of crisps, opt for something less refined. Keep doing this until it becomes second nature. Always opt for healthy options, even when standing in line at a buffet. Occasionally, reach for that burger.

Secondly, you need to watch your snacks. Snacking often creates somewhat a routine in your mind. That way, you end up doing it subconsciously. It should not be a problem if you are reaching for healthy foods. However, you will find that more often than not, people will eat unhealthy snacks.

Watch what you are consuming. Also, ask yourself if that snack is necessary. You might be eating out of habit instead of out of hunger.

Thirdly, watch the way you cook your veggies. Eating veggies might not be the most appealing thought to you. If you go online to look for ways to make them palatable, you will find many. Some people will ask you to drench the greens in creams and oils.

Others will show you how you can add sugar to otherwise tasteless veggies. When you eat this, you are not helping your situation. If anything, you are adding to your poor eating habits. Resist the urge to use oils, creams, sugar, and other such additives. Instead, steam the veggies, and if you must use oils, use healthy options.

Fourth, look into the calories you are consuming each day. That does not mean that you should be counting calories, as this could pave the way for other issues. Instead, look into what you are putting in your mouth, without even looking at the calorie count. If the meal is high in fat or sugar, don’t eat it.

Yes, those fries are calling to you. But their effects will be longer than the short-lived pleasure you derive from them. When it comes to dessert, you are likely to face a problem. After all, how are you to pass up an opportunity to eat that creamy cake? Well, here is the thing. Calories add up.

You take one piece today, another tomorrow, and by the end of the week, your health is at risk. Keep this up for a month or two, and the doctor starts frowning at your test results. A year later, things have gone from bad to worse. Be moderate.

Fifth, you should watch your portions. It is advisable to avoid distractions when you are eating. The silence allows you to concentrate on your stomach. You can tell when you are full, and you can thus stop eating. In some environments, such as those with loud music, gauging the stomach is not possible.

You eat and eat until you finish the serving. You can even ask for more as the mind is yet to register that the stomach is full.

Sixth, now that we have eliminated unhealthy foods, what should you eat? The goal here is to eat anti-inflammatory foods at most times. These include but are not limited to tomatoes, leafy veggies, strawberries, blueberries, cherries, oranges, and nuts.

Fatty fish, such as salmon and tuna, are also recommended. If you notice positive changes following a change in diet, you should stick to them. You should also avoid trigger foods such as deep-fried foods, sugar-sweetened products, and red meat. These will have a reverse effect on the health of your eyes.

Use Compresses

You can either use a warm or hot compress to help your eyes relax. Compresses are soothing, and they aid in better eye health.

Warm Compress

This compress is especially useful when you are feeling a strain in your eyes. It could be from the squinting as you try to zone out the floaters. Your eyes should feel pretty exhausted. You can thus use this to relax the muscles. Also, did you know that eye strain can cause twitching? That’s another reason to embrace the use of a compress.

A compress should add moisture to the eye by allowing natural eye activities to take place. When you spend so much time straining your eyes, they barely have adequate time to blink. That takes away from their hydration and can trigger other issues such as dry eyes.

Also, it thins oils produced in the eyelid. This thinning allows the oils to drain easily. Where this draining is not in place, clogging of the glands can take place, leading to some eye complications.

So far, the use of a compress seems to be working in your favor. It also alleviates discomfort in the eye by providing it with quick relief. Maybe you have some redness in the eye and need a way to alleviate this symptom. In this case, you can use a warm compress on it to make the discomfort more bearable. You can also use this when you experience pain or muscle spasms.

How can you make a warm compress? You will need warm water. Note that it should be warm and not hot. The last thing you want is to aggravate a situation by using hot water on an affected eye.

Place a clean cloth in the water and wring it out such that it does not drip any water. Fold it into a small piece and place this over the affected eye. Relax and allow the cloth to remain on the eye for about ten minutes. Once it feels cold to the eye, place it in the water again and repeat the process as directed. The period of use will depend on what the doctor advises.

When using this as a means to alleviate floaters, you can do this many times each day. You should always use a clean cloth or else you risk infecting the affected eye. Then you would have a lot more to deal with than image distortions.

Precautions are always necessary when dealing with eyes as they are sensitive organs. What can you do to ensure that you do not aggravate the eyes? Using plain water is one way to do this. You will find people advocating for the use of tea bags and chemicals in the water.

While this could work, it could also irritate the skin around the eyes. Use plain water and a clean washcloth. That is all you need. The temperature of the water matters. It might feel tempting to use boiling water on the affected eye. It might feel good. But note that the skin around the eye is very thin and thus susceptible to burns.

You also have to be wary of spreading infections from one eye to the other. While you may have floaters in both eyes, you should treat them differently. That means that you should use separate cloths for both eyes to avoid any transmission of infections. The same goes for water bowls.

Cold Compress

Can cold water offer you any relief from your symptoms? The answer is yes. Cold water improves circulation around the eyes, and this contributes positively to eye health. It also relaxes the muscles around the eyes, thus resulting in less eye strain. The procedure is much like what you would follow when using a warm compress. In this case, though, you dip the cloth in cold water.

You should see some results over time, more so if you suffer swelling around the eyes. If you are up for it, you can introduce ice cubes to the routine to make the compress more effective. Follow the precautions laid out under a warm compress for the best results.

Get a Massage

Massaging the area around your eyes goes a long way in alleviating the strain to which they are subject. Think about it this way. From the moment you wake up till you sleep, your eyes are at work. They process shapes, movements, hues, and other such things around you.

All this time, they are sending and receiving signals, without rest. You thus need them to be fully functional, and the way to do this is to give them the care that they deserve. You need to massage your eyes.

Should you do it? If you have had a massage, you know how soothing it feels when your muscles relax. It allows you to be free of aches in the body, and you can focus on your wellness. At the end of a tiring week at work, you can finally wind down. It feels great, and so will your eyes after they get the massage they deserve.

What can you expect as results? Well, for one, you can be free of knotted muscles around the eyes. You can also improve circulation and alleviate aches and pains around the eyes. If you have been having tension, you can say goodbye to the same.

After an eye massage, you should notice a decrease in eye strain, light sensitivity, and dryness. It thus works holistically in that it targets more than one aspect of the eyes. The puffiness and dark circles around the eyes also reduce.

If you look up eye massages, you will find many techniques you can use to ease the strain in your eyes. Use these patterns, coupled with hot and cold compresses, and see how this works out for you. As is the case with everything, you should practice moderation. You do not want to end up doing too much too soon and getting negative results.

Use Eye Exercises

A lot of emphasis surrounds getting in shape mentally and physically. Staying active has a positive impact on our lives. Take your body, for example. The more that you engage in workouts and push yourself to the limits, the more you gain.

You get to enjoy a better resting heart rate, a better BMI, and probably enviable abs. The same goes for the eyes, which also need some exercises for them to perform as required. You demand a lot from your eyes and keeping them ‘in shape’ goes a long way in helping them meet these demands.

Do you need to exercise your eyes? It may seem like an out-of-the-norm activity. Probably, you have not heard of many people who think of exercising their eyes. But they should. You put your eyes through a lot of strain each day. Reading books, watching TV, scrolling through your phone, and other such activities tire the eyes.

This stress can lead to eye complications over time. Exercising them takes away from the strain and allows them to function as needed. It also gives them a break from the usual activities you put them through.

If you have been suffering from headaches, muscle spasms, and other such related symptoms, the eyes might be signaling the need for a break. What are the benefits of these exercises? One, you allow the eyes to hydrate, and this prevents the occurrence of dry eyes. When there is a balance in fluid, you can do away with that awful gritty feeling.

You also reduce strain and eliminate tension in them while adding flexibility to the muscles. People with lazy eye can get some form of relief by exercising their eyes. You also experience better vision, less strain, and improved concentration.

Look up some of the exercises you can use to better your eye health in your quest for reduced eye floaters. You will not lose anything by embracing such routines. If anything, you stand to gain a lot.

Protect your Eyes

With technology, people spend a lot of time staring at digital screens. It could be for entertainment, work, or other such purposes. Whatever the reason, you end up straining your eyes by focusing them on such screens. A way to improve your eye health is to reduce the time spent staring at screens. Adopting the 20-20-20 rule will help you take necessary breaks during screen time.

It also helps to wear protective glasses when using smartphones and other such devices. That way, you reduce the amount of light to which you expose your eyes. Drinking water enables you to flush out any toxins that can lead to the development of floaters. While you are at it, you can take some supplements to up your health.

All these changes would be futile if you did not allow your eyes some time to relax. Taking naps during the day is one way to do this. You can also work on your sleep schedule such that you sleep enough hours during the night. Look into whether you are getting enough rest. Also, watch your caffeine intake as this could adversely affect your sleep patterns.

Computer Eye strain

Do natural remedies offer any alleviation?

Looking at the above lifestyle changes can rattle you. You may also wonder if you will experience any positive changes after embracing them. The thing is that the results vary from one person to the other. Some people have experienced a decrease in eye floaters and thus avoided going under the knife.

It owes to the targeting of the underlying conditions such as inflammation. With the cause out of the way, eye floaters cannot be in play. Others, however, have not experienced much change and have had to cope with the floaters or undergo surgery. So yes, these have worked, and they could work for you.

Do the floaters dissolve? The answer is no. Instead, they settle out of your line of vision such that they no longer pose a hindrance to image processing. It takes a considerable period for this settling to take place, often months. But when it does happen, you no longer notice the floating debris.

Going natural vs. embracing medical treatment with eye floaters

Note that natural remedies do not take the place of medical treatment. If your doctor advises that you undergo surgery, you cannot use natural means instead. However, where the doctor offers surgery as an option, you are welcome to try natural remedies.

Why would one choose to go natural? Medical treatment for floaters involves undergoing surgery, known as vitrectomy. While it can work, it involves many complications. They include but are not limited to lens damage, eye infections, hemorrhages, added eye pressure, and cataract formation. In some cases, patients experience retinal detachment and limited eye mobility.

Some surgeries have also been unsuccessful in dealing with the floaters. With all these complications in play, doctors often advise that patients avoid surgery unless it is necessary.

But does that mean that it is all rosy when you go the natural way? Well, here are some considerations to make.

Natural eye floater remedies

Upsides

Why do people fear to go under the knife? Complications are a leading cause of worry for many people. They fear that they could end up getting harmed during the process. We have covered some of the ways eye surgery could go wrong.

With natural remedies, you do not face a risk of injury, and you are thus safer. That is, provided the floaters are not an indication of an underlying problem.

You will not incur many costs when embracing a natural approach. Sure, you may invest a little at the onset, but in the long run, you will save a lot of money. It works great for people who would rather not spend money on surgery.

Embracing lifestyle changes affects the whole body. That ensures that you can target the cause of the floaters and ensure that they do not come back. Suppose the floaters are a result of inflammation. You can eat right, keep it at bay and avoid the occurrence of new floaters. Overall, it is a cheap and safe option.

Downsides

You cannot expect to enjoy the results within a short period, as is the case with surgery. You can take months before noticing the fruits of your labor. Also, it calls for a lot of sacrifice on your part when it comes to adopting a healthy lifestyle. In most cases, you need to rely on more than one natural approach to witness any changes. That is not the case with medical treatments.

Medical Approach

While natural means are cost-effective and safe, sometimes the only way forward is undergoing surgery. It is especially so when the underlying cause of the floaters requires urgent medical attention.

An example, in this case, is retinal detachment. You do not have the opportunity to wait and see if the floaters can go away over time. Each hour spent delaying the surgery is an hour that could cost you your sight.

You should thus be on the lookout for any sudden changes in eyesight. These include an increase in floaters, pain in the eyes as well as vision loss, among others. Check with your doctor often to monitor the floaters as you discuss the best way forward.

Upsides

You enjoy the results within a short period and do not have to make many sacrifices to do so. The results of the surgery are precise, provided there are no complications. It, however, is helpful that you embrace a change in lifestyle to make the results stick.

Downsides

Not only is it expensive, but it also comes burdened with a myriad of likely complications. You still need to target the cause of the floaters, even with surgery in play.

Conclusion

Where eye floaters are not an indication of a more severe condition, you can adopt natural means. While they will not eliminate the floaters, they will improve your eye health and make the floaters less visible.

Where an underlying health condition threatens your vision, surgery may be the only way out. Always go by your doctor’s advice.