Sometimes

Yes. To some extent, a doctor can see a vitreous detachment or a vitreous floater when using special lenses to look inside your eye.

YES. Your doctor can see the floaters in the vitreous of the eye located behind the lens and in front of the retina. These floaters may be seen with the slit lamp in a magnified view or by an indirect microscope worn on the top of the head and using a hand held lens to clarify the image we are seeing through the eyepieces of this instrument. Both are often used when evaluating floaters as they may be a sign of a retinal hole, tear or detachment. All of which may require urgent treatment.

Roger Ohanesian, MD

It depends on how large the floaters are. You can see floaters down to the size of a single red blood cell, but floaters have to be 80-100 times larger than that before an ophthalmologist can even begin see them. That means that there is a broad range of floaters that the patient can see, but the doctor cannot. Everyone has some floaters if the look for them, but if floaters increase suddenly, or make it hard to read, drive or see the TV, then they should be checked by an ophthalmologist.

Yes, most of the time we can. It requires dilation of the pupil with eye drops. Floaters are usually opacities in the vitreous cavity behind the lens and in front of the retina. Like the dust in the air visible in a dark movie theater in the bright projector light. If you have new visual floaters you should have a dilated full eye exam as soon as possible, since this may indicate a retinal problem.

Mark F. Pyfer, MD

Yes, we often can. Sometimes they are too small for us to visualize.

Dr. LMJ

Yes it requires an exam where the pupils are dilated

Yes, in many cases. SO

Eye doctors are able to examine for floaters

Hello,
Yes generally your eye doctor can see and evaluate your floaters