If you look up at the sky on a clear day, you might notice little cobweb-like structures drifting across your field of vision. They are known as floaters or, more formally, muscae volitantes – Latin for ‘flying flies’, Like regular flies, muscae volitantes are rather pesky, so it’s not surprising that people want to banish them…
A recent article in the Mirror, “Eye floaters: What causes them and how to get rid of them naturally“, claims to have a solution, Sarah Brewer, a GP, is quoted in the article as saying that a supplement called Clearer, made by Theia Bio, is “a natural but effective solution to address annoying floaters”. Despite the promise in the headline, Dr. Brewer does not talk about getting rid of floaters.
The Theia Bio website uses more precise language. It says: “Clearer contains a blend of antioxidants and antiglycation micronutrients that has been scientifically proven to reduce eye floater size and visual discomfort in around 70 percent of test subjects over six months.” Before we look at the feasibility of a supplement to “address” annoying floaters or reduce their size, let’s look at what floaters are and why they occur.
The main reason floaters occur is age. With age, the vitreous – a clear, gel-like substance inside the eye – starts to thicken and shrink. Vitreous consists mostly of water, collagens, and an acid called hyaluronan. Over time, the vitreous degenerates slightly, and little clumps of collagen begin to form. Floaters are the shadows these clumps cast on the retina.
With age, it’s normal for the vitreous to pull away from the back of the eye, a process called posterior vitreous detachment, and this causes more floaters, Is it possible that vitamin supplements could affect the clumps and strands of collagen, to improve the vitreous?
In 2022, researchers in Taiwan reported that taking high-dose mixed fruit enzyme supplements could reduce floaters, but it’s not clear how they measured the number of floaters, so it is difficult to judge this study properly without more information, The vitreous clumps are 3D, not 2D, so catching them from different angles affects the measure you take, and floaters appear bigger when they’re closer to the front of your eye. The reduction in opacity size in the study is based on just 26 people who took the formulation, and opacity sizes were reported in a 2D measure (cm²).
What about other solutions?
There are a couple of medical ways to get rid of floaters. The most accepted is a procedure called vitrectomy, which surgically removes the vitreous. But this surgery poses risks to a person’s vision far more significant than the floaters themselves.
Zapping floaters with a laser (known as a YAG laser) is another option, but not all experts agree that this is safe. Worryingly, several private companies offer this treatment as a good solution, even though there are reports of damage to various eye structures and glaucoma as a result, Other “solutions” suggested online include intermittent fasting, temple massage, and acupressure, as well as eye exercises. But there is no credible evidence for these.
