Flashes of Light in the Eye

If You Have Flashes of Light or Floaters in Your Eye, Don’t Ignore Them!

If floaters appear suddenly, if you have complaints such as flashes of light, and if you feel as though a curtain has come down over your eye, you should go to a healthcare facility urgently and be examined by an eye doctor!

What Are Flashes of Light in the Eye?

When looking at a plain surface, shapes such as small dots, rings, lines or clouds of noticeable size may sometimes appear in front of the eye. These are floaters. In a normal eye, the retina is in contact with the homogeneous vitreous fluid (the gel-like fluid inside the eye) that fills the inside of the eye. In some cases, certain changes may occur in this gel-like structure inside the eye.

As the vitreous gel separates from the areas where it is attached to the retina on the back wall of the eye, this structure may shrink and clumps may form within it. The separation of the vitreous fluid from the retina can cause black dots floating in front of the eye or flashes of light. As a result of the vitreous gel separating from the back wall of the eye, tears may also form in the retina. Small amounts of bleeding may occur during these tears. This bleeding can also cause floaters, as if soot were falling. As the vitreous separates from the retina, a sensation similar to flashes of light, as if there were many stars, is felt. These flashes of light may continue for quite a long time.

Symptoms such as flashes of light or floaters (“flying flies”) may be a warning sign of a serious eye disease. In particular, patients who develop "retinal detachment" may describe mainly flashes of light, oval or round shapes and cobweb-like images, black or red dots falling like rain, and, in the final stage, loss of visual field.

Situations in which floaters are seen more frequently are commonly the following:

• Advanced age
• Accidents and blows to the eye
• Inflammation inside the eye
• Myopia
• Hereditary diseases
• Previous eye surgery
• Having had cataract surgery
• Having had YAG laser treatment

What Is Retinal Detachment (Tear)?

Separation of the vitreous gel from the back wall of the eye is called “posterior vitreous detachment”. As mentioned above, flashes of light seen with the eyes open or closed, floating dots, particles and cobwebs are among the symptoms of posterior vitreous detachment.

During posterior vitreous detachment, tears may sometimes form in the retina. After a retinal tear occurs, fluid from inside the eye passes through the tear into the space between the retina and the wall beneath it, resulting in a disease called “retinal detachment”.

Symptoms of Retinal Detachment:

• Sudden appearance of many floaters
• A gray-black curtain within the field of vision
• Blurred vision or vision loss that does not clear with blinking
• Increasing flashes of light

What Should Be Done?

If you have flashes of light in your eye, you should never wait.

If new floaters suddenly appear in addition to the floaters you have had for a long time, you must have an eye examination without losing any time.