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These flashes are seen intermittently after development of a retina tear or detachment and usually don’t subside until it’s repaired. This tugging can cause a tear in the retina, pulling away from the eyeball and causing a detachment. Retinal tears or detachment and photopsiaįlashes of light, or photopsia, which occur with the eyes open or closed due to a retinal tear or detachment are due to mechanical tugging of the retina. After auras subside, vision will return to normal. Usually, auras precede a headache or migraine and have geometric-associated shapes and shimmering colors. They grow over a course of minutes to cause a scotoma, or blind spot, with your eyes open or closed. Auras generally last from 20 to 60 minutes and start slowly in one area of the vision. Visual patterns or sudden lights in your vision also can be caused by ocular migraines, or auras. Phosphenes will subside quickly, in less than a few seconds, and don’t cause any change to vision. Usually, phosphenes are described as sparks, twinkling lights or pin-prick light shapes that can be brightly colored. Some activities that stimulate the retina in this way include: Phosphenes are generated by the retina after there’s some sort of stimulation, even with the eye closed. The electrical signal is then sent to the brain to provide us with the visual image we see of the world. The retina’s job is to take visual information entering your eye through the pupil and convert this information into an electrical signal. The internal lining of the eyeball is called the retina.
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These small lights are usually phosphenes, a visual phenomenon caused by mechanical stimuli resulting in pressure or tension on the eye when the eyelids are closed. But, by the time you open your eyes, they’re gone. You rub your closed eyes, or sneeze, and suddenly notice some flickers or sparks of light in your vision.
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