Black dot behind eye

[FromWalesWithLove]

Please can somebody suggest what a black spot behind the eye is? I'm very worried. The GP found it in my husbands eye this morning. He has the opticians in 2 days time to have it looked at further. I made the mistake of googling it and it came up with all kinds of nasties. Cancer being one of them. Is there any reasonable explanation for this black spot? Something that's not life or sight threatening??

Do you mean he saw it on the retina. It could be any number of things depending where it is but it could be as simple as bit of darker pigment( freckle) on the retina. Does he have regular visits to the optician? If so the chances are he will have had photos taken of the back of his eyes and they will do new ones this time, to compare.
If the doctor was really worried it was something serious I'm sure he would have been referred straight to hospital, rather than the opticians.
Google will always tell you the worst, try not to panic. I work in an opticians, by the way.
Good luck, hope all is well.

I had an eye test last year and was told by the optician that I had a 'black mole' at the back of my eye. He wrote to my GP and an appointment was made for the eye department at the local hospital, I think it was a couple of weeks later. I had no idea anything was wrong.

I went to the appointment, had drops put in my eyes, both of them, waited and then saw the specialist. He spent an age peering into my eyes and finally said that in fact I had two black moles but they were ok.

I couldn't drive straight after the drops, but the optician had told me this as he had put the same drops in the affected eye. It took about 3 hours for my pupils to go back to normal.

Try not to worry, easier said than done, but it is more common and harmless than you think.

Thanks for the replies. I'm slightly less panicky now. I am praying it's nothing serious.

My optician scare the daylights out of me about 10 years ago. Said he'd found 'something' on the back of my eye and said I must see my GP. Only thing GP did was refer me to hospital. I was terrified. In the end I went to the appointment and the ophthalmologist was completely uninterested. Told me it was 'benign protein deposits' and sent me on my way. I have near perfect vision 10 years on. Don't panic, wait and see what happens.

Phew thank goodness it was all ok for you. He always had perfect vision but hasn't seen the optician for a while now so I'm glad they could fit him in quick. At first they wanted him to wait 3 weeks for an appointment, then he mentioned his visit to the doctors and they soon changed it.

A friend of mine had the same thing happen and was worried sick. It turned out to be a freckle on the back of the eyeball.... seems it's surprisingly common to have them. Her optician takes measurements when she has her annual vision test to ensure it's not grown or changed- but it's been like that for years and her optician isn't at all concerned. So don't be alarmed if the optician wants to monitor it- it'll just be like monitoring any freckle or mole on your body