Floaters and flashes at 20 years old, doctors say no issues with retina.

Question

heres the story: Around two months ago I was going through a stressful period with exams at college. I was walking back to my dorm when I saw a large floater in my left eye. A few weeks later I saw an optometrist and ophthalmologist who both said that everything was fine. after about six weeks, right when I was getting used to this floater in my eye I started to get flashes of light in that same eye (like shooting stars). I waited a week to see if they would go away but they slowly became more severe. I called the hospital to make an appointment to see about these flashing lights. They called me back the same day and told me to come in urgently.

I was freaked out about this. when I got the the doctors they did a full dilated exam with some kind of scan and a scleral depression. luckily they told me that as far as they could tell my eyes are perfectly healthy and asked for me to return in a few months. the only thing he said was that my vitreous in my eyes was degenerating faster than usual for someone my age, but wasn't anything too alarming. I should note that he did not explicitly mention PVD but explained to me that the vitreous pulls away and tugs on the retina and that that was what could be causing these lights. Because of this I am not sure if what is happing is PVD or not.

I am writing here because I am wondering if anyone has a similar experience. I have no history of eye issues, no myopia or anything like that. I am also very young to have PVD. Any stories or advice?

Posted Jul 15, 2023, 3:00 AM UTC

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