Do you have flashes of light in vision? Have you ever experienced these flashes and wondered what they were or what was causing them? This is a common problem for many people and in most cases, there is nothing serious to worry about.

To understand this, you need to know what causes flashes of light in vision. Light will usually enter the eye and stimulate the retina, as you may know. This will create a type of electrical impulse that travels through the optic nerve to the brain. The brain will then interpret this impulse as light or as an image.

Now that you know more about flashes of light in vision and you can understand what causes it, you will be better able to understand when it is happening to you. Then you'll also know how to recognize the signs that there is something serious to be concerned about.

When the retina gets touched physically, a similar impulse will go to the brain and this is interpreted by the brain as flicker of light. Any time the retina is tugged, torn or gets detached from the back of the eye, you will see flashes of light in vision.

This is why you sometimes see flashes after a blow to the head. This is commonly called "seeing stars" and is known medically as photopsia. Flashes of light in vision can also come from migraines. This usually appears as "heat waves" or jagged lines in both eyes that can last from 10-20 minutes on average. This happens when there is a spasm of blood to the brain.

When headache comes after these flashes, it is called a migraine. If the flashes of light happen without a headache, it's called ophthalmic migraine. As you can see, there are different causes of flashes of light in vision and most will go away on their own in time.