Spots before your eyes5/11/2023 ![]() Knowing that repeated eye flashes are a danger signal could save your vision. While the condition is more common for older and extremely nearsighted people, he encourages everyone to be on the lookout for telltale signs of retinal tears and detachment. Schuman sees an average of two to three patients with eye flashes each week. If retinal detachment is identified, you may need surgery immediately to prevent or minimize permanent vision loss.Īs a retina specialist, Dr. If a retinal tear is diagnosed, in some cases it can be repaired with an out-patient procedure like laser treatment or cryotherapy. Your doctor will look for retinal tears, retinal detachment, and any retinal thinning. To get a complete view of your retina, your eyes will be dilated. However, this can sometime take a few days. In the case of posterior vitreous detachment, if flashes occur, they usually subside immediately when the separation is complete and the vitreous tug is released. “That’s why it’s so important to see an ophthalmologist and have the symptoms evaluated,” said Dr. Without an exam, it is impossible to tell if flashes are a result of a clean separation or a retinal tear. Floaters look like spots, strings, cobwebs, pepper flakes, circles, lines, or any irregular shape that you can. Eye Injury If you injure your eyes and damage your retina, you may begin to see flashes of light occur. Other signs include a sudden increase in floaters, a curtain in front of the eye, a loss of peripheral vision, or a narrowing of the visual field. Flashes and floaters are common eye symptoms. Here are a few possible causes of seeing spots, including: Black or dark spots White spots Flashes of light Blind spots An increase in eye floaters An eye specialist can help you identify the root cause of your condition. A warning sign of a retinal tear is repeated flashes that could occur within seconds or hours of each other, said Dr. If left untreated, a retinal detachment may lead to permanent loss of vision. Floaters - those spots, lines, or other shapes you see before your eyes - aren’t a big deal most of the time. Fluid can enter through the tear and cause a retinal detachment. Medically Reviewed by Whitney Seltman, OD on June 17, 2020. This tugging and friction can also result in a retinal tear. This is more likely to happen where the gel is more firmly attached, for instance, at the peripheral (side) retina.įlashes appear when the vitreous gel fails to separate cleanly and then tugs and creates friction on portions of the retina. You suddenly start seeing flashes when you havent before. If, however, the gel still adheres to the retina during this separation, problems can occur. Flashes of light in the eye are pinpricks or spots of light that you see in your field of. As the gel changes consistency, it separates from the retina in a normal process called posterior vitreous detachment. Those changes may result from aging, extreme near sightedness, or a previous eye surgery. Schuman, MD, a retina specialist at Duke Eye Center, eye flashes and eye floaters are often caused by changes in the vitreous gel, the substance that gives the eye its shape.
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