You might see a flash that looks like a jagged bolt of lightening or a zigzag line. This might look different than a flash you would experience if you have posterior vitreous detachment. Another difference is the age you might experience the flashes.

Your symptoms may last for a few weeks only, but usually they last about six months. During this time, your floaters and the flashes of light gradually calm down and become less obvious to you. You might be aware of your floaters for up to a year or longer but this is more unusual.

It typically happens as you get older. With posterior vitreous detachment, the vitreous humor detaches from the retina. If it happens too quickly, it can cause small flashes of light, usually in the corner of your vision. It can also cause floaters.

Treatment for Eye Flashes With treatment, eye flashes should go away. It usually takes about a month, but sometimes it can take up to 6 months for them to completely disappear.

You can try moving your eyes, looking up and down to move the floaters out of your field of vision. While some floaters may remain in your vision, many of them will fade over time and become less bothersome.

They’re sometimes shaped like a circle or oval, called a Weiss ring. Flashes of light: People with PVD report seeing streaks of light, usually at the side of their vision. Flashes may be more noticeable when you’re in darker environments.

Can Anxiety Cause Eye Flashes? Rapid heart rate, fast breathing, and a sudden, overwhelming feeling of panic — anxiety can cause these physical and mental changes. Some people report other changes when their anxiety is high, namely, floaters or flashes of light that have them seeing stars.

When the vitreous gel inside your eye rubs or pulls on the retina, you may see what looks like flashing lights or lightening streaks. You may have experienced this sensation if you have ever been hit in the eye and see “stars.” These flashes of light can appear off and on for several weeks or months.

If eye floaters begin to impair your vision, there are treatments available to make them less noticeable or remove them.

1. Ignore them. Sometimes the best treatment is nothing at all.
2. Vitrectomy. A vitrectomy is an invasive surgery that can remove eye floaters from your line of vision.
3. Laser therapy.

Flashes will almost always go away completely. It usually takes about a month, but sometimes it can take up to six months. Floaters will gradually get smaller and less noticeable as the weeks and months go by, but usually they never disappear completely.

The main difference between a vitreous detachment and retinal detachment is the damage done to the retina. On its own, PVD does not harm vision. As long as the fibers are merely pulling on the retina, the quality of your eyesight should not be affected.

With modern treatments for detached retina, over 90 percent of those with a retinal detachment can be successfully treated. In some cases, however, a second treatment is needed.

Retinal detachment can occur because the vitreous fluid of the eye (a gel-like liquid) retracts from the back of the eye, pulling the retina and tearing it. That tear can then pull away from the back of the eye and detach the retina.

A detached retina occurs when the retina moves away from its normal position. This can be the result of a tear, break, or hole. When the vitreous gel pulls loose—this is a clear gel inside of the eye and in front of the retina—it can exert traction on the retina. If the retina is already weak, it will tear and ultimately detach.

Other symptoms include seeing floaters, which are dark, floating shapes or bright, brief flashes of light. There are many causes of detached retinas. Most are caused by a hole or a tear in the retina. As a result of the hole, the eye’s vitreous fluid leaks through and collects behind the retina.