About Visual Floaters and Getting Old...

At 61, I do notice myself getting old, and one of the most telling ways is how my vision has deteriorated. It is getting more difficult to read fine print (especially telephone books) and recently, I had my first encounter with floaters.

On Valentine’s Day, I was doing paperwork on the dining table when I saw something a bit blurred in front of my eye. Thinking that I had a stray eyelash or hair in front of my eye, I brushed my eye with my hand, but the “vision” stayed. After I washed my face and it was still there, I suspected that I had “floaters.”

The first time that I heard about “floaters” was when my husband John experienced them a few years ago. I remember how worried he was about his eyes then, which is understandable because, after all, he is a photographer. All we knew about them then was what his doctor told us. Now, with Internet, my first recourse was to “google” and there was quite a bit to learn about floaters.

(http://www.allaboutvision.com/conditions/spotsfloats.htm)

As soon as I saw my husband, I told him about my experiencing floaters. Before I could impress him with the information I culled from the Net, he said, “You’re getting old.” His quick-on-the-draw remark was not meant to hurt - it is characteristic of him to be simple, precise and direct to the point.

Seeing a slight worry frown on my face, he did a double take and told me that his own floaters no longer bother him. “Go see an eye doctor,” he said, and gently added, “Don’t worry, we’ll grow old together.”