Description of vitreous detachment
Our eye is similar to a hollow tennis ball, except that most of the inside of our eye is filled with thick elastic jelly called the “vitreous jelly”. This jelly is very thick and elastic when we are a born, but progressively liquefies during the course of our life. At a certain point in our lives, usually sometime in our 50’s, that jelly becomes liquefied enough that the entire meshwork of jelly collapses upon itself.
When this occurs, we will often see floaters, little spots or strands of semi-translucent, dark shapes that float around in our vision. Because the meshwork of jelly is attached to certain points in our retina, it may tug on the retina in various areas during this process and cause us to see “flashing lights”.