This liquefaction of the vitreous is also what causes normally clear and transparent collagen fibers to clump together and form opaque clusters that lead to floaters.Įye floaters and eye flashes can appear suddenly and may occur separately or together.įloaters are very common and usually are not a symptom that anything is seriously wrong with your eyes (especially if you notice only a few floaters and they aren’t accompanied by flashes of light).Įye flashes, on the other hand, could signal you are at risk of a retinal detachment, which is a medical emergency. This is a normal aging change that coincides with the vitreous becoming more liquid and less gel-like in nature. It is these shadows that we perceive as floaters in our vision.Įye flashes are caused by the traction (pulling) on the surface of the retina that occurs when the back portion of the vitreous begins to separate from the retina. These clusters of collagen are opaque and cast shadows on the retina when light enters the eye. The vitreous is a gel-like fluid that fills the large cavity inside the back of the eye (the space between the lens and the retina). CausesĮye floaters are caused by discrete clusters of a protein called collagen within the vitreous of the eye. The key differences between eye floaters and flashes are their appearance and causes: AppearanceĮye floaters are shadowy spots, clumps, and irregular linear and fuzzball-like shapes (like the “pilling” of the fibers of a sweater) that drift slowly across your field of view - which makes them appear as though they are floating in front of your eyes.Įye flashes appear just as their name suggests - they are bright (often arc-shaped or jagged) flashes of light, which tend to appear more frequently in your peripheral vision. Eye floaters and eye flashes are examples of entoptic phenomena - which means they are visual effects whose source is within the eye itself.
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