Flickering lights in peripheral vision?

[Letharia]

For the past few months I have been having a flickering sensation when I blink my eyes at night. I notice it mostly when I am very tired (but then night is when people are usually tired. Chicken or egg dilemma?) It is in my peripheral vision on both sides. The flickering is kind of like if you bumped a lamp with a slightly loose bulb. It will actually be most pronounced when I first blink then taper off quickly. It has come and gone in episodes a few times, for a few days usually.

I had a thorough eye exam a year ago and everything was perfect. My health is mostly sound, except I drink too much and often have iron and magnesium deficiencies. I'm considering it could be malnutrition if nothing more serious. I'm 24, female. One of my grandmothers had peripheral detachment, and my other has macular degeneration. I will make an appointment with an eye doctor soon, but it's bothering me since I can't find a lot of information on this symptom.

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

=

[skimordiegirl]

I have this too, did you find and answer?

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

-

[Letharia]

Thanks for the reply. You're right- I meant to say retinal detachment. I will see if I can find someone near me. I guess it's no use wondering. I haven't noticed any new floaters recently though... actually I'm not noticing any at all.

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

You do need to see an Eye MD ophthalmologist, ask your family MD to refer you or go to www.geteyesmart.org to find one near you (US).  No way to tell what you have. Not likely Mg deficiency or macular degeneration.  Peripheral detachment is not a valid eye diagnosis. You might have become aware of entopic phenomenta (read section on wikipedia) or there could be some area of posterior vitreous detachment (part of aging) and some vitreous detachment. That's all I can tell you.

JCH MD