Floaters and Flashes

[Emily123202]

Hello
What are the kind of floaters and flashes that are the retinal detachment kind?  Ive been to many opthamologists MD and found nothing wrong with my eyes.
Do retinal detachment flashes occur in the whole field of vision in the eye, are they in both eyes? Someone said if you have it, it looks like as if its raining outside?  Can retinal detachment have subtle changes or would you know right away somethings wrong? Is it normal to see these shadowy images that go away after a few seconds.
If you saw many MD eye doctors and said your fine and its very unlikely for you to get it, do I have it?

[Flavius G Pernoud III, MD]

If you have had dilated retinal exams by different doctors and they have found nothing, I suspect there is nothing to find. Quick split second flashes only visible in the dark can be caused by vitreous traction on the retina. This alone may or may not cause a tear in the retina. The light flashes will only be in one eye at a time.

Many patients with "flashing lights" have "ocular migraine" a benign disorder affecting the visual cortex in the brain producing a visual display (aura) in both eyes which is visible at night or in bright light and has nothing to do with the retina. The display can be any color or multiple colors. Google "ocular migraine".

[Emily123202]

Also, sometimes I see blue sort of spots/flashes too.  Is this bad?