When Are Eye Floaters and Flashes a Medical Emergency? If you see a shower of floaters and spots, sometimes accompanied by light flashes, you should seek medical attention immediately. Vitreous detachment Clumps occur when the vitreous gel begins to liquefy or shrink, usually with aging, and detaches from the retina. For some people, floaters are clumpy; for others, theyre stringy. They may be light or dark. What you see is actually the shadows cast by clumps of vitreous gel when light shines past them onto the retina. (If you cant see the image, you may need Flash Player.) The sudden appearance of these symptoms could mean that the vitreous is pulling away from your retina or that the retina itself is becoming dislodged from the inner back of the eye that contains blood, nutrients and oxygen vital to healthy function. When the retina is torn, vitreous can invade the opening and push out the retina — leading to a detachment. A study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2009 found that sudden presence of eye floaters and flashes means that one in seven people with these symptoms will have a retinal tear or detachment. And up to 50 percent of people with a retinal tear will have a subsequent detachment. In cases of retinal tear or detachment, action must be taken as soon as possible so that an eye surgeon can reattach the retina and restore function before vision is lost permanently. Posterior vitreous detachments (PVDs) are far more common than retinal detachments and often are not an emergency even when floaters appear suddenly. But some vitreous detachments also can damage the retina by tugging on it, leading to a tear or detachment. Light flashes known as photopsia can occur when your retina receives non-visual (mechanical) stimulation, which can happen when it is being tugged, torn or detached. What Causes Eye Floaters and Spots? As mentioned above, posterior vitreous detachments or PVDs are common causes of vitreous floaters. Far less commonly, these symptoms can be associated with retinal tears or detachments that may be linked to PVDs. But what leads to vitreous detachments in the first place? As the vitreous gel fills the inside of the back of the eye, it presses against and actually attaches to the retina. Over time, the vitreous becomes more liquefied in the center. This sometimes means that the central, more watery vitreous cannot support the weight of the heavier, more peripheral vitreous gel. Doughnut Floaters An unusually large floater called a Weiss ring represents a circular piece of condensed vitreous gel that is intimately attached around the optic nerve. When this piece of vitreous separates from the optic nerve, many people will describe a circular, doughnut-shaped floater in their vision. This ring sometimes will fold in half, creating a floater in the shape of a J or C. — Charles Slonim, MD Vitreous gel then collapses into the central, liquefied vitreous. While this occurs, the peripheral vitreous detaches from the inner back of the eye where the retina is located. Eye floaters resulting from a vitreous detachment are then concentrated in the more liquid vitreous found in the interior center of the eye. More than half of all people by the time they are 80 will have had a vitreous detachment.* If you are among the 40 percent of people with PVDs who also experience light flashes, then you have about a 15 percent chance of also developing a retinal tear.** Light flashes during this process mean that traction is being applied to your retina while the PVD takes place. Once the vitreous finally detaches and pressure on the retina is eased, the light flashes should gradually subside.
Posted on: Thu, 22 Jan 2015 09:51:02 +0000
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