The opthalmologist peered deep into my left eye yesterday and pronounced it unimpaired.
Let’s hope he’s right.
The annoying floaters remain, though, making it hard to read and to do other close work. The light flashes are only bothersome in the dark.
The doctor said these symptoms are “normal” for people my age, a result of changes in the vitreous humor, the gelatinous substance in the eyeball between the retina and the lens.
Several websites say that eye floaters can disappear on their own over weeks or months.
One website recommends trigger point therapy and a magnesium-rich diet to treat floaters, which they attribute to muscle strain from, among other things, excessive computer use.
Foods with magnesium include pumpkin and sunflower seeds, lightly boiled spinach and chard, salmon and halibut. Coffee is bad, it depletes magnesium.
Magnesium is a muscle relaxant and deficiencies can result in heart arrhythmia, muscle weakness and elevated blood pressure, among other infirmities.
The daily requirement for adults is 320-340 milligrams.