Place what you see, and an explanation will appear below: what it is, why it looks that way, when it is a reason for an urgent eye exam, and where these opacities hang in the eye.
Eye
Preset
Place
Shape
OD
Click the field to place what you see, or pick “Freehand” and draw your own strand. Drag an opacity to move it, drag the background to shift your gaze.
Opacity right next to the retina: the shadow is small but sharp and dark — you see a crisp thread with a clear edge.
Strands
Threads, “worms”, hairs
What it is
Collagen fibrils stuck together into strands — classic vitreous degeneration.
Why it looks this way
The strand is elongated, so its shadow is elongated too. The gel is liquefied and the strand floats freely in it: when you move your gaze, it starts moving with a delay and drifts past the point you are looking at.
What it means
Typical uncomplicated vitreous opacities. Their number and density barely affect the risk to your sight — they affect comfort.
What to do
Monitoring and neuroadaptation. After six months most people stop noticing them; if not, it is time to discuss treatment.
When it all started
Nothing here yet
Mark what you see on the field: the shape, number and position of the opacities. An explanation of what each type is and what to do about it will appear below.
This simulation is approximate: it helps explain the mechanism and put your symptoms into words, but it does not replace a dilated retinal exam.
What the surgeon will see
The field above shows the shadows; here are the opacities of the selected eye themselves in a 3D model — the way a doctor sees them through a lens or a surgeon through the microscope. If it ever comes to vitrectomy, the surgery model will use exactly this picture.
During surgery
Strands are sucked into the port of the vitrector and cut; the closer to the retina, the more carefully the vacuum is used.
A shadow at the top is cast by an opacity above the lower part of the retina, so the picture is inverted in the microscope.
One difference from real vision: here you can take a good look at the opacities, whereas in real life they drift away from your gaze because they move with the eye. The contrast is also higher here — the brain partly fills in a real shadow with the background, and gets better at it over time.
Want to understand where your floaters come from and what can be done about them next?