Floaters and Flashes
Eye floaters are small lines, dots and cobwebs that drift across your field of vision, while flashes can appear like streaks of lightning out of the corner of your eye.
Most often, they are caused by harmless changes inside your eye, but they can occasionally signal a more serious condition, such as a retinal tear or detachment.
What are Floaters and Flashes?
Floaters
Floaters commonly appear as spots, dots, or wavy lines in front of the eyes. They appear to be suspended in our vision, but drift and move when we blink or move our eyes. Floaters tend to be more obvious when outdoors or in a bright background.
Flashes
Also known as photopsia, these are brief lightning-like streaks or sparks that occur spontaneously, or when you move your eyes. They are usually seen out of the corners of the eye, and are more noticeable at night or in dark environments.
What Causes Flashes and Floaters?
Floaters are actually tiny clumps of semi-transparent matter that drift freely inside the vitreous (the clear, gel-like substance that fills the inside of the eyeball). In middle age, degeneration and shrinkage of the vitreous occurs, resulting in the formation of these clumps or strands within the gel. All these may drift across the line of sight and appear as floaters in front of the eye.
In childhood and early adulthood, particles from blood vessels, proteins and pigments formed during the growth of the eye can also remain suspended in the vitreous fluid. These may also appear as floaters, even at such a young age.
Flashes are bursts of light produced by the retina (the light-sensitive layer at the back of the eye). Flashes are also the result of the vitreous gel degenerating and shrinking. As the gel shrinks, it can pull on the retina, causing the eye to perceive that pulling as a flash of light.
Treatment & Management
Floaters and flashes are usually benign and are more bothersome rather than harmful. They generally fade away over time - the clumps may settle to the bottom of the eye, or the brain eventually gets used to floaters in the vision and learns to ignore it.
There is no effective treatments to prevent or eliminate floaters and flashes.
However, consult an eye doctor immediately if you experience the following :
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a sudden shower of floaters in the eye, or
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flashes that continue non-stop, or
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a sudden drop in visual or something covering your vision
These new symptoms may be caused by a retinal tear or a retinal detachment.