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Medical eye careFlashes and floaters: when to worry.
Most floaters are harmless and extremely common. But a sudden change in them, especially with flashes of light, is one of the few things in eye care that should not wait until Monday.
Call us the same day if any of these start suddenly
- A shower of new floaters, or a noticeable sudden increase
- Flashes of light, like lightning at the edge of your vision
- A dark curtain or shadow moving across part of your sight
- A sudden loss of vision, in part of the field or all of it
If you cannot reach us and any of the above is happening, go to an emergency room. These can be signs of a retinal tear or detachment, and treated early the outlook is far better than treated late.
What floaters actually are
The inside of the eye is filled with a clear gel. Over time that gel becomes more liquid and small clumps form in it. Those clumps cast shadows on the retina, and those shadows are what you see drifting across your vision.
They are more obvious against a bright, plain background like a white wall or the sky, and they move when your eye moves, then drift on after it stops.
Why they usually are not an emergency
Ordinary floaters arrive gradually, and most people slowly stop noticing them. They are a normal part of the eye aging, particularly after about fifty, and after cataract surgery or in people who are very nearsighted.
So what actually makes it urgent
The change, not the floater. As the gel separates from the back of the eye it can tug on the retina, which is what produces flashes. Usually it separates cleanly. Occasionally it tears the retina, and a tear can progress to a detachment, which is a threat to sight.
The symptoms above are how that announces itself. That is why the advice is to be checked quickly rather than to work out at home which one it is.
What we do
A dilated examination of the retina, all the way to its edges. It does not hurt, and it either finds something or rules it out the same day.
Scottsbluff (308) 635-0800 · Alliance (308) 762-3124 · Bridgeport (308) 262-1252. Tell whoever answers that you have new flashes or floaters, and we will get you in.
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