Life Insurance With Eye Floaters
Almost everybody has floaters by middle age and almost nobody needs anything done about them.
This page exists because of the one scenario where they are not routine, and because of what that scenario leaves in your medical record.
It is the entry people most often forget, precisely because the outcome was reassuring.
The short answer
Floaters are specks and threads drifting across your vision, and long-standing ones are usually harmless. The reason this matters on an application is what happens when they appear suddenly: new floaters, flashes of light or a shadow in your vision warrant an urgent retinal assessment, so there is frequently an emergency eye attendance in the record even though nothing was found.
What it is
Floaters are small clumps and strands in the vitreous, the gel filling the eye, which cast shadows on the retina and appear to drift through your vision. They become more common with age as the gel shrinks and becomes more fibrous.
A sudden increase in floaters, especially with flashes of light, is often due to posterior vitreous detachment, where the gel pulls away from the retina. That is usually harmless in itself, but the same symptoms can indicate a retinal tear or detachment, which is why urgent examination is advised. Treatment for ordinary floaters is rarely needed.
Why it comes up on an application
- Long-standing floaters that have not changed are a minor entry and a brief answer.
- A sudden onset is the significant version, because it triggers an urgent retinal examination with dilating drops, often at an eye casualty or emergency eye clinic.
- That urgent attendance is the entry people leave out. It happened, it is in the record, and a question about investigations or hospital attendances is asking about it.
- Posterior vitreous detachment is a specific diagnosis and worth naming if that is what you were told.
- A retinal tear or detachment is an entirely different matter: it involves treatment, often laser or surgery, and is a major eye event that should be stated clearly.
- People with high short sightedness are at higher risk, so the prescription is relevant context.
What we would ask you
- Whether the floaters have been there a long time or appeared suddenly
- Whether you had flashes of light or a shadow in your vision
- Whether you were seen urgently, and where
- What you were told: posterior vitreous detachment, a tear, a detachment, or nothing found
- Whether you have had any laser treatment or eye surgery
- Whether you are strongly short sighted
- Whether you are currently off work or working reduced hours because of an accident, injury or illness
- Whether you are waiting on any medical tests, appointments or treatment
- Whether you have been diagnosed with or treated for cancer in the last five years
- Whether a parent, brother or sister was diagnosed with cancer, heart disease or a stroke before 65
- Any medication you take
- Whether you smoke, and your date of birth
The Emergency Visit Is The Entry
If there is one thing to take from this page, it is this, and it applies more here than anywhere else in the eye group.
When floaters appear suddenly, the correct response is to be examined urgently, because the symptoms of a harmless vitreous detachment and a sight-threatening retinal tear are the same from the outside. So people go to an eye casualty, have drops put in, get examined, and are told everything is fine.
That visit is a hospital attendance and an investigation. It is in the record. And it is routinely left off forms because the outcome was reassuring and it felt like a false alarm. It was not a false alarm; it was the correct action, and reporting it is a complete answer rather than an admission of anything.
What You Were Told Is The Difference
Three outcomes come out of that appointment and they are very different entries.
Nothing found, or ageing changes, is the commonest and is the end of it. Posterior vitreous detachment is a specific diagnosis, usually harmless, and worth naming. A retinal tear or detachment is a major eye event, treated with laser or surgery, sometimes with restrictions on activity and flying afterwards, and it must be stated clearly rather than described as floaters.
If you are not sure which you were told, the hospital letter will say. It is worth finding, because the difference between those three answers is the difference between a one-line entry and a significant one.
Which cover is relevant
The usual starting point. Ordinary floaters are not a factor; a retinal tear or detachment with treatment is a real entry.
Pays on diagnosis of a listed serious condition, and many policies list permanent loss of sight. Floaters are nowhere near that, which is why reading the definitions matters.
Relevant around retinal surgery, which involves real recovery and restrictions, and for anybody whose work depends on vision.
Common questions
Do I need to declare floaters?+
Long-standing floaters that have not changed are a minor entry and a brief answer. What matters far more is whether you were ever seen urgently for a sudden increase, because that attendance is in your record.
I went to eye casualty and they said it was fine. Should I mention it?+
Yes. That was a hospital attendance and an urgent examination, and a question about investigations is asking about it. Reporting it is a complete answer, and the reassuring outcome is good information rather than a reason to omit it.
What is posterior vitreous detachment?+
It is the gel inside the eye pulling away from the retina, which commonly causes a sudden increase in floaters and flashes. It is usually harmless in itself, which is why it needs distinguishing from a retinal tear, and it is worth naming if that is what you were told.
I had a retinal detachment. How should I describe it?+
Clearly and by name, with the treatment and roughly when. A retinal tear or detachment treated with laser or surgery is a major eye event and should not be described as floaters.
Why does being short sighted come into it?+
Because a strongly short sighted eye is longer, which stretches the retina and raises the risk of retinal problems. It is useful context for an application and it is why people with high myopia are told to get sudden floaters checked promptly.
Cover that often goes with this
The gaps we most often find sitting next to this one.