A fluffy, white patch in your eye is called a “cotton-wool spot” and can represent a compromise to the circulation and vascular system. They can also indicate damage to the retinal nerve fibers, with build-up of material that doesn’t belong there. Sometimes you can have a sudden “blind spot,” blurry vision, or peripheral vision loss. There are many causes for cotton wool spots: hypertension, diabetes, HIV, severe anemia or thrombocytopenia, hypercoagulable states, connective tissue disorders, viruses, lues, Behçet’s and many others. To review the many other yellow-white things in the retina with which you could confuse cotton wool spots, check out Yellow-White Things in the Retina.
Blood work-up and physical with a primary care physician are recommended.
Los Alamos Family Eyecare, P.C. 