Do you see visual snow??

Magnate · 10-05-2015 09:18PM

bodhi085 wrote: »

I can't say I notice but after reading this thread I tried it and yes it's still there. It must be that I'm not looking for it as much as I've gotten older,but it has fascinated me all over. It certainly is strange.
The picture in the link is exactly it.

I'm the exact same, it's always been there but I've forgotten about it in a sense until today, and now I can hardly stop seeing it

pablomakaveli · 10-05-2015 09:25PM

I think i have this as well though my vision isn't bad. My eyes are very sensitive to bright lights though. Makes driving in the dark with oncoming vehicles a pain (literally).

Hamhide · 10-05-2015 09:26PM

I get the kaleidoscope thing, not as much as when I was a kid but still comes regularly. I get tinnitus too but seems to go away quick enough, It can bother my when trying to sleep but most of the time I can tune it out.

Magnate · 10-05-2015 09:32PM

Magnate wrote: »

Could you try something a little weird and see if it works for you? It might be easier to see if you already have visual snow. You'll need to be in a dark room.

Hold your two index fingers like this and bring your fingertips together. Try and let your eyes relax and stare into the space between them. Then slowly bring them about 5cm apart and very slowly move them ever so slightly around.

It's really weird, I can see a very feint white light as if my two fingertips are being connected by a piece of string. It looks like a concentration of visual snow, that's the best way to describe it. Where it gets really weird is when I take one finger and try to wrap the "string" around the other one, I can feel a tingly sensation as if it's actually there.

What's also strange is that if I slow bring my fingertips between say 2 - 8cm apart I can expand and condense the amount of visual snow.

I must sound completely cuckoo to most of AH right about now but I'm wondering if people with visual snow can see this too?

Wow I just thought of a theory that would make perfect sense for this. I really didn't want to be believe in any of that aura/chi sh*te (:rolleyes:) but hear me out.

Look through your phone camera at a tv remote and press any button, you'll see the infrared light. It looks very similar to what I can see between my fingertips. Now it's a fact that humans give off infrared radiation (which is a form of thermal radiation) and which has a frequency lower than visible light. I think people who can see visual snow can see infrared light.

There's some science behind it too

Human eyes can detect light at wavelengths in the visual spectrum; other wavelengths, such as infrared and ultraviolet, are supposed to be invisible, but an international group of scientists from Poland, Switzerland, Norway and the United States, has found that under certain conditions, it’s possible for humans to see infrared light. Using cells from the retinas of mice and people, and infrared lasers, the group found that when laser light pulses rapidly, light-sensing cells in the retina sometimes get a double hit of infrared energy. When that happens, the eye is able to detect light that falls outside the visible spectrum.

thunderdog · 10-05-2015 10:03PM

Its the white floaters that you need to watch out for...literally

MrWalsh · 10-05-2015 10:06PM

Ive got quite a nasty floater in my right eye. Sometimes I perceive it as a blind spot, other times I dont notice it.

Its most obvious when using a computer and typing text onto a white background.

Idjit · 10-05-2015 11:10PM

I actually thought the visual snow thing was something everyone got when they looked at a blank surface. I thought it was your brain getting bored with the blankness and generating that in your field of vision to keep you stimulated or something.

It doesn't seem to be related to good/bad eyesight though. I previously had very poor vision and got laser eye surgery to correct it to perfect sight..and both before and after surgery I could see the 'snow'.

Conor Bourke · 11-05-2015 12:44PM

--LOS-- wrote: »

Hello after hours. Do you see visual snow?

I only found out the other day that not everyone sees visual snow :eek: and it's blowing my mind a bit because I've seen it for as long as I can remember and it's all I know. It's quite strange to try to imagine not seeing it along with all the other stuff that can accompany it like BFEP.

This gives you some idea what visual snow is like but I would describe it as like seeing visual noise, dense tiny dots pulsating across your whole field of view reminiscent of television static, especially noticeable on large blank areas and really exaggerated in the dark but always there, eyes open or shut. It's hard to even say what colour it is, there's also a lot of afterimages so you're aware of this constant static mixed with flashes from the afterimages.

As a child I used to think my eyesight was almost too good that I was seeing details that were less noticeable to everyone else so it didn't bother them. I used to think the BFEP, like this, was seeing the individual particles that make up things like little electrons whizzing around Anyways all of it bugged the ****ing hell out of me, made me very anxious, but I never said it to anyone because I just felt that everyone was like this but somehow it didn't bother them. But the worst part was the closed eye hallucinations, going to sleep and there's a kaleidoscope happening behind your eyelids which was terrifying, it was like you could get no break from it, just constant visual stimulation, a lot of times I couldn't tell if my eyes were open or closed at night because it would be the same crazy sh1t either way, that turned into paranoia about being blind or going blind. When I think back to that time now it was truly torturous. The kaleidoscope stuff seemed to fade away as I got older, I think I just got used to the rest of the stuff that it's not something that really bothers me. I had nearly forgotten about how bad the hallucinatory looking stuff was until I was looking up something about photophobia which is what mostly bothers me (also related). Then I crossed this other stuff and it's weird how many symptoms I can check off.

Not sure if I now wish I never came across it in case I start paying more attention to it -_-

So does anyone see visual snow? And if you don't does everything look flat and still for you :eek: Like when you look at a solid dark colour, it's just dark??? And what do you see when you close your eyes?

I never knew visual snow was a thing, I didn't realise I even had it until I read your post. I get the kaleidoscope effect when I close my eyes as well, in fact it's amplified by background noise, particularly music: it ebbs and flows in time with the music but in a constantly changing way, what I see is rarely rhythmic or repetitive.

No photophobia here, though I did recently get prescription polarised sunglasses as I drive a lot for work and the glare (even on overcast days) was really bothering me. I don't really like wearing them but yet I feel better for it.

Reoil · 11-05-2015 03:16PM

"Oh squiggly line in my eye fluid.
I see you lurking there on the periphery of my vision.
But when I try to look at you, you scurry away.
Are you shy, squiggly line?
Why only when I ignore you, do you return to the center of my eye?
Oh, squiggly line, it’s alright, you are forgiven."

Magnate · 11-05-2015 03:59PM

Alaskimo-cake wrote: »

I never knew visual snow was a thing, I didn't realise I even had it until I read your post. I get the kaleidoscope effect when I close my eyes as well, in fact it's amplified by background noise, particularly music: it ebbs and flows in time with the music but in a constantly changing way, what I see is rarely rhythmic or repetitive.

No photophobia here, though I did recently get prescription polarised sunglasses as I drive a lot for work and the glare (even on overcast days) was really bothering me. I don't really like wearing them but yet I feel better for it.

That sounds like synesthesia, maybe the two are related?

I must admit that now I'm very envious of those without visual snow. I thought it was something that everyone had but didn't acknowledge. I can't imagine having crystal clear vision in the dark!

Conor Bourke · 11-05-2015 06:22PM

Magnate wrote: »

That sounds like synesthesia, maybe the two are related?

I must admit that now I'm very envious of those without visual snow. I thought it was something that everyone had but didn't acknowledge. I can't imagine having crystal clear vision in the dark!

I often wondered if it was a form of synesthesia alright. It's not something I know very much about.

Do you see visual snow??

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