Eye floaters and glaucoma are distinct conditions affecting the eye. Changes to the structures of your eyes from glaucoma may cause floaters, but floaters are not necessarily a sign of glaucoma.

Eye floaters are those small dark or gray shapes that float across your field of vision. For some people, they look like squiggly lines or threads, while other people describe them as dots or specks.

No matter their shape, eye floaters are caused by changes to the vitreous humor, the gel-like substance between the lens of your eye and the retina. With age and other structural changes in the eye, the vitreous humor can develop pockets of fluid or bundles of collagen that cast shadows perceived as floaters.

Floaters can come and go, and they’re often harmless and do not require treatment. Sometimes, however, floaters can hint at changes in the eyes that may precede or result from certain types of glaucoma.

Eye floaters are not considered a primary sign of glaucoma. Glaucoma is a disease of the optic nerve that tends to occur in a specific pattern and can be treated by lowering eye pressure.

Often, glaucoma has no immediate symptoms. Over time, most people start to notice they are not able to see out of their peripheral sight as well as they used to. Their field of vision narrows, or objects aren’t as detailed as they once were.

Even though floaters are not considered to be a sign of glaucoma, they can be a common experience among people with glaucoma. Over time, glaucoma or its underlying causes can create changes within the structures of the eye, such as burst blood vessels, that may affect the vitreous humor and contribute to floaters.

A review from 2021 notes in neovascular glaucoma, for example, underlying diabetic retinopathy can create bleeding in the vitreous humor. For this reason, floaters are often seen in the stages before diabetic retinopathy progresses to glaucoma, but they are not caused by the glaucoma itself.

In very rare cases, laser treatment of eye floaters may increase pressure within the eye and promote the development of open-angle glaucoma.

Eye floaters and glaucoma have very different symptom presentations doctors consider for a formal diagnosis.

Symptoms of eye floaters include:

  • shadowy dots, circles, lines, strings, or cobweb shapes that move or “float” away when you try to look at them
  • floating specks or lines that are more noticeable against light backgrounds

Symptoms of glaucoma can vary depending on the type of glaucoma you’re diagnosed with. General symptoms, if they appear as the condition progresses, can include:

Can you have both eye floaters and glaucoma?

Yes, you can be diagnosed with both eye floaters and glaucoma. These conditions may develop independently of one another, or eye floaters may arise from glaucoma-related changes in the eye.

Most eye floaters resulting from natural changes in your body do not require any treatment.

Occasionally, doctors will opt to treat floaters that are significantly affecting your vision from underlying causes or lowering your quality of life.

Depending on your individual circumstances, your doctor may recommend laser vitreolysis, the use of a laser to break up floaters to make them less noticeable, or vitrectomy, a surgical procedure that removes the vitreous humor and replaces it with a saline solution.

Glaucoma treatment can involve a mixture of medications, laser treatments, and surgery, depending on the type of glaucoma and its progression.

Eye drops and oral medications can help reduce your intraocular pressure (IOP), which is often a primary factor in glaucoma development. Eye medications can also help improve fluid drainage from your eye and regulate fluid production.

Laser treatments are also used to help reduce your IOP. Several different laser procedures are available, depending on your glaucoma diagnosis.

Laser treatments target the trabecular meshwork in your eye, a sponge-like tissue that plays an important role in draining fluid from the eye. By improving drainage and decreasing inflammation, laser treatments can reduce the pressure on your optic nerve.

When other treatments haven’t helped glaucoma, your doctor will recommend one of the following surgeries:

  • Trabeculectomy: A small opening is made in the white part of the eye (sclera) to allow drainage.
  • Glaucoma implant: An artificial tube is implanted to help fluid drain.
  • Minimally invasive glaucoma surgery (MIGS): A variety of procedures developed to help lower IOP with minimal tissue damage, such as goniotomy and stent implantation

Glaucoma treatments cannot undo damage to your vision already caused by glaucoma, but they can help prevent more damage from developing.

Eye floaters and glaucoma do not have a direct cause-and-effect relationship, but floaters may develop as a secondary symptom from changes in the eyes before or after glaucoma development.

You can live with floaters and glaucoma at the same time, but treatment focuses on addressing glaucoma unless floaters are significantly impairing vision or affecting quality of life.