Seeing orange or other colored spots in your vision can range from a harmless, temporary optical illusion to a warning sign of a serious underlying health condition. This visual disturbance, often described as flashes, spots, or streaks of light, warrants professional medical evaluation. While many causes are benign, an ophthalmologist must examine the eye to rule out sight-threatening structural issues. A detailed examination is necessary because the visual experience is often the primary symptom of conditions requiring immediate treatment.
Understanding the Different Types of Visual Spots
The experience of seeing spots often involves distinct visual phenomena, each pointing toward a different origin within the eye or brain. Phosphenes are bursts of light or color that you perceive without any external light source. These internal lights are generated when the retina’s photoreceptor cells are mechanically or electrically stimulated, such as when you rub your eyes or experience a physical impact.
In contrast, floaters are small, dark shapes, squiggles, or cobwebs that drift across your sight, becoming more noticeable when looking at a plain bright surface. Floaters, medically known as myodesopsias, are shadows cast onto the retina by debris or clumps of protein within the vitreous gel. Flashes, or photopsias, are the perception of actual light streaks or sparks, often white or colored, typically lasting less than a second.
A scotoma is an area of partial or complete vision loss within an otherwise normal visual field. This type of disturbance can manifest as a blind spot that obscures your view, rather than a transparent spot floating in it. Understanding the exact nature of the visual disturbance—whether it is a shadow (floater), a perceived light (flash/phosphene), or a missing area of sight (scotoma)—helps determine the likely cause.
Common and Temporary Causes of Colored Spots
Orange spots frequently occur due to the temporary fatigue of the retina’s color-sensing cells. One common explanation is a strong afterimage, which happens when photoreceptors are overstimulated by a bright light source. If you stare at a blue object, the cones sensitive to that color become temporarily desensitized. The visual system then overcompensates, leading to the perception of the complementary color, often orange or yellow-orange, which fades within minutes.
Ocular migraines, or migraines with aura, also produce transient colored spots, flashes, or zigzag lines, which are called scintillating scotomas. These visual auras usually affect both eyes and are caused by a wave of electrical activity across the visual cortex of the brain.
Another temporary cause is a sudden drop in blood pressure, known as orthostatic hypotension, which happens when transitioning quickly from sitting or lying down to standing. This rapid change can momentarily reduce blood flow to the head and eyes, sometimes causing temporary dimming, color loss, or the perception of spots or streaks. Eye strain and fatigue, especially from prolonged screen use, can also lead to minor visual artifacts, including light sensitivity and fleeting spots, as the ocular muscles and nerves become overworked.
Potential Ocular and Systemic Health Conditions
Visual spots and flashes can signal a significant structural problem within the eye, often involving the retina. Posterior Vitreous Detachment (PVD) is a common age-related process where the vitreous gel shrinks and separates from the retina. If the gel remains adherent, the pulling action can mechanically stimulate the retina, generating flashes of light (photopsias) that appear as streaks or colored sparks.
If the vitreous tugging is severe, it can cause a retinal tear or a retinal detachment, where the light-sensitive tissue pulls away from the underlying blood supply. This is a medical emergency where flashes, often described as a burst of light in the peripheral vision, are a major warning sign. The mechanical friction on the retina causes the photoreceptors to fire, mistakenly registering light, which may be perceived as white, sparkly, or briefly colored.
Systemic diseases that affect blood flow can also manifest with visual disturbances. Hypertensive retinopathy, resulting from chronic high blood pressure, damages the delicate blood vessels in the retina, potentially causing fluid leakage or hemorrhages that lead to flashes and dark spots. Similarly, diabetic retinopathy involves damage to retinal blood vessels due to high blood sugar, leading to new, fragile blood vessel growth that can bleed into the eye, causing dark floaters and flashes of light.
When to Seek Immediate Medical Care
The distinction between a harmless spot and a serious symptom relies on the characteristics of the visual disturbance, making immediate professional consultation necessary. You must seek urgent medical care if you experience a sudden onset of new flashes or floaters, or a dramatic increase in the number of existing ones. This sudden change is a warning sign of a retinal tear or detachment, requiring swift treatment to prevent permanent vision loss.
Other warning signs include the perception of a dark shadow, curtain, or veil moving across any part of your visual field, which indicates the retina has detached. If the spots or flashes are accompanied by a sudden loss of central or peripheral vision, or if you also have accompanying symptoms like severe headache, eye pain, weakness, or confusion, you should seek emergency attention. Only a comprehensive dilated eye exam can determine the true cause of the spots and whether they require immediate intervention.