Okay, I was just reading another thread when suddenly, this little glowing white dot danced across right in front of my face. Not on screen, in front of it. I swatted at it because, well, that’s what people do when something passes a couple inches in front of their face, but now it’s gone, and I have no idea what the hell it was. It was just a little pin point of light.
Has this ever happened to anyone else? Could it be a sign I might have a tumor, or just that I need more sleep?
You get the same thing if you shake your head real fast. When I used to fall a lot I would get the little stars a lot. The odd thing is that I got a series of random floating stars about 15 minutes ago after I sneezed and thought of Wil-o-wisps before I even got to this thread.
No, this is something completely different. I’ve had several of those little spells where I’d see stars…you know, standing up too quickly; running way too far, way too fast; taking a really hot shower then trying to see how red you can make your face go…
This was something completely different. It wasn’t a bunch of random colored reds and greens and blues and spots. It was one spot. One singular pin prick of light that floated in front of my face like a firefly. Really fucking creepy.
Maybe if I clap real loud, it will come back…
It’s an ocular floater. Unless there are a bunch of them, it’s nothing to worry about.
Where can i get one? they sound like a lot of fun.
Your’s come in colors? Mine are always little bits of white light that move around. They also float around kinda like a firefly when they are doing the mating flight (ie, with lots of movements).
I always thought ocular floaters were a bit larger than a pinprick of light. I am too lazy to do the search for that one though.
Here’s how floaters and flashes were explained to me: Floaters are bits of protein drifting around in the jellied interior of your eye. Sudden moves, sneezing, lying on your back, and such get them moving. If you try to follow the image, it makes them move even more.
Sometime around age 40, the jellied part of the eye shrinks a bit. The space between it and the outside of the eyeball fills with liquid. As the layers pull apart, more floaters break loose. Sometimes, as the separation reaches the retina, the gentle tugging is “seen” as flashes of light.
When all this is happening, there’s a very slight chance of a detached retina. It’s a good idea to have an ophthalmologist look inside your eyes to make sure everything happening normally. If there’s any detachment, the doc can “stitch” it back with a laser, without having to open up the eyeball.
Thanks, AskNott. I’ve had floaters for a long time (long chains of them – they’re fun to play with when you get bored). And I’ve also seen the bright pinprick flashes of light (usually starting at one spot and moving fairly quickly across the field of vision, and accompanied with slight pain). That flash seems like what El Elvis was talking about – it looks like some discernable object, though you can tell it’s only with one eye.