This condition can be sight-threatening
This website cannot help with an eye emergency. If you have sudden loss of vision, a sudden increase in floaters or flashing lights, a curtain or shadow across your vision, or significant eye pain or injury, go to your nearest eye casualty or A&E now, or call 999.
Floaters and flashes
Floaters are small shapes drifting across your vision; flashes are brief arcs of light. Long-standing floaters are usually harmless — but a sudden change in either is a reason to be seen the same day.
Stock photograph — https://www.pexels.com/photo/5201872/
Symptoms people commonly describe
- Small specks, threads or cobwebs drifting across your vision
- Brief flashes of light, often at the edge of vision
- A sudden shower of new floaters
- A dark curtain or shadow moving across your vision
Recognising your symptoms in this list does not mean you have this condition, and not recognising them does not rule it out. Only an examination with Ms Jiang or another eye specialist can establish what is going on.
When this is an emergency
A sudden increase in floaters, new flashing lights, or a curtain or shadow across your vision can mean the retina is tearing or detaching. That is an emergency. Go to your nearest eye casualty or A&E the same day — do not wait for a private appointment and do not book a routine consultation.
A retinal detachment treated within a day or two usually does well. The same detachment left for a fortnight often does not. This is the one situation on this website where speed genuinely changes the outcome.
When it is not urgent
Floaters that have been there for years and have not changed are common and usually harmless. They are shadows cast by strands in the vitreous gel inside the eye, and most people learn to ignore them. If yours are long-standing, unchanged, and not accompanied by flashes, a routine appointment is fine.
What an assessment involves
The retina is examined with dilating drops so the whole of it, right out to the edge, can be seen. It takes about half an hour including the time for the drops to work, and it is the only reliable way to distinguish harmless floaters from a tear.
Common questions
What happens at the first consultation?
The first appointment takes about 45 minutes and is with Ms Jiang herself, not a delegate.
- A discussion of your symptoms, your general health and what you want from your vision
- A full examination, including measurements of the eye and its focusing power
- Dilating drops, which blur your vision for a few hours
- A frank conversation about the options, including doing nothing
- A written summary sent to you and, with your consent, to your GP
Because of the dilating drops, you should not plan to drive yourself home.
Talk to Ms Jiang about floaters and flashes
A consultation is 45 minutes with Ms Jiang herself, and it is perfectly common to leave with a recommendation to do nothing yet.
Common questions
What happens at the first consultation?
The first appointment takes about 45 minutes and is with Ms Jiang herself, not a delegate.
- A discussion of your symptoms, your general health and what you want from your vision
- A full examination, including measurements of the eye and its focusing power
- Dilating drops, which blur your vision for a few hours
- A frank conversation about the options, including doing nothing
- A written summary sent to you and, with your consent, to your GP
Because of the dilating drops, you should not plan to drive yourself home.