Flashes and floaters making me crazy !

[love_football]

hey
I am a 16 years guy.
usually when i look at something that is bright like sky or the screen i see tiny flashes of light that sparkles .. it is really worrying me though i dont see them at night or dark places .. i see flashes from really long time more than one year
another thing is (well it is a bit embarrassing) every time i masturbate that dots and sometimes floaters increase (i dont know if im imagining this but that is what i think) and i tried one time to stop masturbating for months and i didnt notice any increasing of dots or floaters
im nearsighted i visit the ophthalmologist every 6 months they tell me it is normal but i just cant stop thinking about it
thanks

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

If they are momentary (2-3 seconds or less) they are likely entopic phenomena. If they last 10 min to an hour or more they are likely eye migraines which often have no headache. The point is I can't tell you what they are for sure. What I can tell you I've just completed.

JCH MD

[love_football]

thanks for replying
but the flashes the i see dont move they are like flickering just like camera flash

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

1. If you are seeing a competent ophthalmologist every 6 months; and your symptoms have not worsened and no new symptoms appeared it is not at all likely this is anything serious.
2. While we cannot make a diagnosis it's likely you are hyper-aware of entopic phenomena in your eye. The tiny spots of light that move rapidly about are part of the blue field entopic effect and also known as the "flying corpusule" phenomena. These are blood cells circulating in the capillary bed above the rods of the retina that can "see them" in certain situations.  Read the section on entopic phenomena on wikipedia  and also use the search feature and archives to read past discussions here.
3. Anxiety makes these symptoms worse.
4. Masterbation does not injure the eyes. The association is likely there because you have associated the two events and your mind is "looking for them"

JCH MD