mole in eye with lights and floaters

My friend, 57 saw her opthamologist who sent her to a retinal specialist and was told she had a benign mole in her eye.  They plan to watch this mole every 6 months.  However, the reason for her visit was that she was seeing lights and floaters.  Her retina is fine.  Does the finding of this mole with the accompanying lights and floaters make it more of a concern?  I am encouraging her to have a second opinion at a larger medical facility, but do not want to push her if the combination of finding the mole with the light activity is not significant.  If the mole had been found accidentally with no other symptoms, I do not think I would be quite as concerned.  Thank you for your response.

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

The flashes and floaters are usually due to a posterior vitreous detachment. If she was seen by a retina eye MD he would have looked for holes, tears, retinal detachments. The mole would only cause this if very large.

Unles the flashes and floaters get worse she generally need not seek another opinion.


JCH II MD