Flashes & Floaters in Saskatoon

Flashes

Your brain perceives images through a series of signals. The tissue of your retina is stimulated by light, creating an impulse in your optic nerve. That impulse travels up your optic nerve to the brain, which responds by recreating this image in your perception. Your retinas are extremely sensitive for optimal performance.

From time to time, that series of signals is triggered inadvertently, such as rubbing your eyes too hard. Banging your head or extreme velocity could create a similar reaction. As we age, the vitreous, the gel in the eye, shrinks and pulls on the retina. Typically, this tugging registers as a flash of light.

Floaters

Floaters are another regular odd behaviour in your eyes. Floaters are tiny, visible fibers in the vitreous, the gel inside the eye, that occasionally appear in your field of vision. These pieces appear as tiny shapes floating through your field of vision. They can be strings, clumps, or even mini doughnuts. What you’re actually seeing is the shadows these cast on your retinas as light hits them.