Happy Holidays!!!!!!!!

Could you please explain exactly what floaters are...can a regular eye doctor tell if there is anything wrong by just doing a regular eye exam...not knowing my HIV status...after I found out I was positive...my blood work showed guess antibodies for CMV...My TC are within the normal range average 700 checked every 3 months for over a year now....on no meds...never have been

I do see what looks like lint within my vision...very subtle and not intrusive at all....

Thank you for your insight!

Floaters are simply debris in the back of the eye. They appear as dark spots and when you blink, the debris moves and starts floating down again. Many things can cause floaters, including the aging process. In CMV retinitis, a common complication of end-stage AIDS, floaters may be the only symptom if the infection is far away enough from the structures critical for vision. This only happens at very low CD4 cell counts -- less than 100 and usually much lower than that. An eye doctor can see this debris when s/he does a slit lamp exam (the machine you rest your chin on that shines a bright light into your eye). Relax and enjoy the holidays -- you do not have CMV retinitis.