Quick moving specks in water drop on glasses

[Yamitora1]

Could someone tell me what are these specks that are quickly moving about in the water droplet on my glasses? I can see them when i stare up at the ceiling with the light on, and the light is refracting through the droplet. Are these eye floaters I am seeing reflected, microscopic particles or lifeforms in the water that are being magnified by my glass lense?

There are at least 30 or so viewable at any given moment, they move about in random movements, quickly and they disappear and reappear without a pattern. they are somewhat dark and see through but have a noticeable rainbow-like aura around them. They are about the size of this period -> .

[Strange]

My guess would be dust or other particles being knocked around by Brownian motion.

[Yamitora1]

13 minutes ago, Strange said:

My guess would be dust or other particles being knocked around by Brownian motion.

Hmmm, seems a bit slow, at least from what i saw when I looked for videos on Brownian motion. These moved very fast, and their movements were somewhat like gnats buzzing around a piece of ripe garbage, but way more random and if the flies could vanish.

it's like a mix between the gnats in my example, a cat toy laser pointer, a animation i once saw about ghost particles and Bohr's Model of an Atom

Random, at least to my eyes, but still with some sense of direction. I noticed one made a triangular zigzag, another made a lightning bolt zag, some made a bob and weave about motion and others moved either up or down and then blinked out of view like they were not there to begin with.

 

[DrP]

37 minutes ago, Yamitora1 said:

 Are these eye floaters I am seeing

When you look straight and then suddenly move you eyes to the left or right do they follow the motion of the direction of your eye movement?

[Yamitora1]

3 hours ago, DrP said:

When you look straight and then suddenly move you eyes to the left or right do they follow the motion of the direction of your eye movement?

nope, they were only visible when i looked at the highlighted drop of water. If I blinked they were still there when I opened my eyes again.

Edited August 30, 2018 by Yamitora1
to clarify

[mistermack]

My guess is that they are impurities on the surface, supported by surface tension. As the drop creeps a tiny amount, the surface tension rapidly adjusts, and the surface spots race around as the surface skin tries to regain equilibrium. Then the drop creeps another hundredth of a millimetre, and it all shoots off in another direction. 

[Strange]

Maybe tiny little aliens?

 

[Endy0816]

Seen what you are talking about. Never determined what they were though.

Think I determined after passing through the lens, light was first reflecting off the eyeball and then off the glasses, before entering the eye.

[DrP]

14 hours ago, Yamitora1 said:

nope, they were only visible when i looked at the highlighted drop of water. If I blinked they were still there when I opened my eyes again.

Floaters are with you all the time, blinking doesn't get rid of them - it can't be them though if you only see them when looking at the droplets.  Do you see anything if you look at a white sheet or wall?  I am sorry - I have no idea what your spots are. Let us know if you find out.  

 

[Strange]

Well, I just reproduced this by placing a drop of water on my glasses and looking not-quite-at a bright light.

I see three things. Small round objects (with a dark edge) that move around. Larger, long, randomly shaped objects (also with a dark edge) that move around. And a sort of reticulated background which is static. These are all in black and white.

I am pretty sure the first two are different types of floaters in the liquid in the eye. The small round ones are much more common and so it is easy to focus on ones near the centre of vision and then they just move around randomly (rather as you describe) as your eye moves. The larger ones are less common and so are likely to be away from the centre of vision; as you move your eye to look at them they move away (so they stay in the same position relative to the eye).

The third pattern may be the pattern of blood vessels in the retina.

I am really impressed by this. It is so clear. 

I am visiting an optometrist next week so I will ask about this and see if they can confirm my guesses (or provide a better explanation).

p.s. In my first response, I had misread your post as being water in a glass, not on glasses. (More evidence I need to get my sight checked!)

Edited August 31, 2018 by Strange

[DrP]

12 minutes ago, Strange said:

The small round ones are much more common and so it is easy to focus on ones near the centre of vision and then they just move around randomly (rather as you describe) as your eye moves.

Are you sure they are random movements? If you try to focus on them they will move (if they aren't exactly centre) - this may appear random...  but I am not sure it is.  Some will seem to move faster and further than others....  My guess is that these are deeper or closer to the surface or something - I am not sure otherwise why a fixed mark would travel faster than it's neighbour or in a different direction.  Just speaking from my own experience with them.

I'm changing my guess as to what they are to specks of dust in the water droplet or on the glass which gets taken up into the droplet  -  I am probably wrong though - I don't even wear glasses....  but have had floaters most of my life. 

Are they relatively recent in their definition? I remember telling my brother's optician about them when I was a child as I wondered what they were in front of my vision and he didn't believe I had them and thought I was making it up. He had a laugh with my mum about me 'seeing spots in front of my eyes' and didn't believe me at all when I described them... I thought he was an idiot.  I now know them to be floaters, but only discovered this recently (within the last 25 years or so).

 

12 minutes ago, Strange said:

 

I am visiting an optometrist next week so I will ask about this and see if they can confirm my guesses (or provide a better explanation).

Excellent idea!   Just don't got to the one my brother used to see. :-D

Edited August 31, 2018 by DrP

[Strange]

1 minute ago, DrP said:

Are you sure they are random movements?

I should have said "seem to move randomly". I'm sure they are a form of floater (that I haven't seen before) because they do move with the eyes. But if you just look at the ones near the centre of your field of view, they wander around a bit randomly as your attentions shifts  and the eye moves.

4 minutes ago, DrP said:

Are they relatively recent in their definition?

I don't know. I'm pretty sure I remember being aware of them (and what they are - bits of detached tissue) when I was young. But I have a notoriously bad memory, so who knows!

I can only see the large irregular ones normally. I assume the little round ones are normal too. Maybe some people can see them unaided.