seeing lights with eyes closed

whenever i close my eyes in a darkroom or cover my closed eyes with my hands, i begin to see light patterns. Sometimes the lights are soft and sometimes the lights seem very intense as if someone is shining a light at my eyes. i have also recently needed to get glasses. is there a serious problem behind this?

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

Normall those are entopic phenomena, called phosphenes however if you have not had an eye exam by an Eye MD in the last year see an ophthalmologist.

JCH  MD