Nope, you’re the only person ever to have seen this weird stuff. It’s probably a sign that you’re about to die.
Seen them for decades, but thought it’s best to keep them a secret. Until Family Guy just casually mentioned them like they were no big deal! Not as crazy as I thought, after all …
How did you take the screenshot?
Not this again
He sneezed and farted at the same time
Honestly the worst feeling only thing comparable would be dropping the soap.
In thw prison shower
Burpsnart reference?
Like all of us?
I have a permanent eye floater. When I get really bored I find suitable things in my field of vision to look back and forth between and play pong with.
That is some exemplary “silver linings” shit
You should be a motivational speaker or something
Congratulations! You are getting older. They are called eye floaters and most people have them in some compacity. I notice them mostly when looking at the blue sky on a sunny day.
I’ve seen these since at least the time i developed long term memory as a small child.
You can also see the individual white blood cells flowing through the vessels your eyes this way. It’s actually really neat. It’s called the Blue Field Entoptic Phenomenon.
Nope but I see these when I’m getting a optical/ocular migraine.
I had one once, a decade ago, no pain, but mine was black and white squares, some had x’s in them, it looked like some unholly mix of Apple and Xwindows just righ there in my vision in just about that overall shape you displayed. I also felt SUPER disconnected at the time. My wife and I were picking stuff up at storage, I just ignored it, got what i needed from storage and it went away in less than 5 minutes. I was thankful to not have the oft associated headache
I don’t get ocular migraines so I have never seen something like this. I can see subtle multicolour flashes if I close my eyes and do things like looking around quickly or apply pressure to my eyes. This image reminds me of the flashes I see, but 1000x more intense. Would you describe it like that?
It is called a scintillating scotoma or ocular migraine. Scintillating is accurate; this clear crescent shows up in your vision and It is rippling with rainbow fringes. It starts off as a point somewhere in your vision, slowly expanding into a visible crescent that continues to expand. After about half an hour the crescent expands beyond your field of vision (FOV). For me it is paired with a loopy slightly lightheaded feeling that goes away with a whoosh once it leaves my FOV.
They are often triggered by bright light and may be correlated with migraines. I’ve had three of these happen but never had a migraine headache afaik.
Edit: clear might be the wrong word? My mind blends it in other than the rainbow fringes, but I think I can’t actually see what is behind the crescent.
No I’ve seen what you describe. What I see when I’m having one is most often a shimmering electric zigzag. Sometimes it take different shapes and the colors vary. Its always at the edge of my vision and moves when I move my eye. Its better to close your eyes when they are happening. At least for me. I have had them in both eyes at once and its really freaky since normally I only get them in one eye at a time. They don’t merge well and the combined blind spots have rendered me almost completely unable to navigate. I’ve pulled over while driving more than once and waited it out.
Yikes, you’re actually seeing that?
That’s the shape. But it’s constantly oscillating and the colors shifting rapidly.
Vision gets obscured but for me my visual processing/reasoning gets cloudy too. I can still navigate the world but finding a door handle is difficult.
I get sore behind my eyes after and real tired. Happened a few times in the last couple years, anxiety I think.
Youtube mostly has classix migraine aura but this is close enough if you imagine the zigzag image.
It doesn’t do what I see justice. They are often beautiful. When they first occur it causes a blind spot. The zigzags are a rainbow of shimmering color. They go away after a hour or so and I feel lousy if I don’t have a headache. If I do get the headache with it I have to find a dark room and try to sleep.
Wait, there are people who get migraines without the headache‽ I just get the agonizing ocular pressure and occasionally nausea
Sorry to hear that, it sucks
Well at least you get pretty rainbows
Its a pretty rainbow that is forever at the edge of your vision. You can’t look directly at it.
Yusssss
I don’t know what it was like when my sister was young, but I also got occular migraines as a kid, and it’d be like a static spot in my vision where things just disappear behind it. Once that static appeared, I only had 10-20 mins or so before an awful headache would set off, and I ended up needing meds for it. They went away after 13 though.
Yeah I get those every once in awhile, it starts with a blurry spot in the middle of my vision (like if I’m reading something, half of the word is blurred out no matter where I look) then half an hour later it goes away but is replaced with a migraine that lasts a few hours. Taking a bunch of ibuprofen helps. I’ve noticed it usually happens when I overexert myself without drinking enough water. Also seems to happen more in cold weather, like maybe it’s something about breathing cold dry air. Luckily it’s not chronic, it only happens once a year or so, but often enough to recognize the pattern.
I occasionally get them and mine feel more black & white than color, the the jagged shape and the arc around the center of your vision is spot on.
And remember the jagged arc is always in your peripheral vision. You can’t look directly at it and study the details because it moves when your eyes do.
This is what I have. I’ve had them my whole life.
Yeah and it has the best name, Scintillating Scotoma. The first time I experienced one it was terrifying.
Yeah, that names sounds about right for what you’re describing
Well, yes and no. It’s kind of an area you can’t see, but it’s there. Also, it starts as a small dot and them starts expanding/moving. It’s also flashing, kind of like static noise on an old TV. Luckily those things usually last like 15 minutes or so. Still, not a fun experience.
My ocular migraines always come with a pretty strong headache. Last week I had my first one without the headache. Very difficult to try to concentrate when you cannot see.
Also when I get both types of migraines, I can’t remember names or do any sort of math.
I typically get a song or something stuck in my head and cannot let it go while I have the headache, it sucks.
Glad I’m not the only one! I had one a bit ago that was weird. If my right eye could see my right hand but my left eye couldn’t, it felt disconnected from me. Like it was someone else’s hand. Once my vision came back I still couldn’t read for about 2 hours without sounding out each word. Migraines can be wildly scary sometimes.
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YO that’s a gnarly aura!
Same. Took me a while to figure out what it is cause I never get headaches.
First time I had one of these I was so stressed out. I thought I was about to have a stroke.
Same! I was on a road trip in Ireland and it came out of nowhere. Freaked me out. I’d never had one until a few months after my first bout with COVID. Now I get them but usually only if I’ve not been drinking enough water for a few days, and ONLY when I stand up. It’s preceded by a weird sort of throbbing where it feels like sound is turned down in time with my heartbeat.
They are my little worm friends
They’re always with me :3
Pretty sure I fucked up my eyes from psychedelics even though I didn’t trip more than 5 or so times in my life. I took some golden teachers and I noticed that my glasses felt like they were in the way of my eyes. I took them off and I could legit see. I need glasses to see anything that is 2 feet away from me, all I see are huge masses of colors and blobs without them on since I was about 9. Ever since that trip I see weird shit randomly, especially when I’m nervous, it just swirls and flashes. Eye doctor says nothing is wrong, I’m just seeing floaters. Shits weird.
Lol, HPPD goes brrrrr.
I can’t tell you if this is what you’re experiencing, but worth a read if you haven’t come across the term before: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallucinogen_persisting_perception_disorder
I had heard of it before but hadn’t read much about, mostly from fear that it would be true, like this part of the wiki article hits too close because I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what I’m experiencing. FML.
“Many report that their visual distortions become more pronounced or even emerge during periods of heightened anxiety or stress.”
I’d recommend seeking out a therapist if it causes you distress, specifically one with some clinical interest in psychedelics if possible (keywords include ‘integration therapy’). Know that while there’s still a lot to learn about HPPD, you are not alone, and in a lot of cases it can be managed. It’s mostly a question of recognizing your triggers and developing tools to work through them (so if stress is a trigger, stress reduction techniques; abstinence from cannabis or other drugs if that’s a trigger (pretty common), etc.)
Some folks just kinda roll with it, but there is stuff you can do to help manage.
I got few permanent ones.
When I was a kid I played geologist and crushed rocks with a large iron hammer. Few of the metal splinters that ended in eyeballs left a mark that is still visible today when I look at the sky.
Not actually floaters, I know.
I got one or two from looking at the sun for no reason when I was a kid
god I was dumb
You can still be dumb if you wanted to!
What was your high score? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTEGOI9Leys
I have a lot of these because I’ve had numerous eye surgeries and they’re ultimately just gunk in the vitreous fluid of the eye. I wish there was a way that they could drain, filter, and replace your vitreous fluid when it gets like mine. Like an eyeball oil change. There’s not though, as far as I know.
A tip: if you suddenly see a ton more of these get it checked out asap, especially if you are very near sighted
This but for tinnitus too please
Everytime I see this warning, I become hyper aware of every single one and it freaks me out.
If it makes you feel any better you’ll know when it happens, they increase by a lot. If they increase noticeably you should get it checked out but if it increases so substantially that you’re like man what the hell is going on then you need emergency care, basically, but also you can’t really miss it?
There actually is. I have looked into it before because I have a lot of floaters, but have never had surgery. The risk and downtime with the surgery is pretty high, so it’s usually not recommended.
I know someone who got a vitrectomy for his eye floaters, and I’ve been considering doing the same when I can afford it
Slightly different but similar and related:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_field_entoptic_phenomenon
EDIT: If you’re on a mobile device, or in strong lighting conditions, view the image fullscreen or futz with your brightness/gamma.
Part of the whole point of this is that it is a subtle effect, only visible in certain lighting conditions.
Or maybe you need to clean your screen, lol.
You sure you don’t have high blood pressure?
I mean, now maybe, lol, but I noticed this as a middle schooler, and I was in pretty good shape back then… and I still have the exact same experience to this day, in the right lighting conditions, if I can just sit or stand still and look at a mostly cloudless sky.
I didn’t realise these were white blood cells. Thanks for the read.
I believe this is another related, simililar, yet technically different phenomenon, with different causal mechanisms, but yes, lets keep adding to the list, lol.
Also, brb, you’ll never believe this, apparently my pizza delivery guy’s name is ‘Hiro Protagonist’, he’s almost here, and I gotta ask him what is up with that name.
dude he has your pizza. he’s a fucking hero don’t you forget it
Visual snow is different, it’s constant and looks more like tv static or film grain, fun stuff, not.
I most commonly see these these when I have a migraine, really bad sneezes, or I flick my eyes or move my head quickly. I’ve heard it’s fine unless you see a bug chunk at the same time as that could be a sign the retina has broken or come loose?
The dots are white blood cells moving in the capillaries in front of the retina of the eye.
From the wiki page.
So, yeah, it makes sense that very similar or even just the same effect can be intensified by all those things you mention, they all alter the motion of blood in your eyes.
As to a big chunk moving?
I am not an eye expert, but I would intuitively think that yes, a big splotch moving could be the retina itself moving… but it could also potentially be something like a clot in one of those capillaries breaking loose… which is probably still bad, but maybe not necessarily as bad?
Always wondered what this was called. I get this often in winter, less during summer. It really puzzled me the first few times it happened, I just figured I was getting diabetes. I have a black tail that follows them so it’s even more noticeable then in the picture.
Basically, lighting conditions have to be just right to … basically, allow you to actually see your own white blood cells, in your own eyes, against the … background/everything you are seeing.
So my guess would be that in the summer, where you are, the … ambient light of the sky is too bright, it overwhelms this effect, but in the winter, maybe its mote generally humid, or the light is coming through more atmosphere , at more oblique angles, and is thus less intense.
Though if you are also seeing a… black tail, like… they’re followed by a black smear or a motion blur or something… that could be something else?
It’s light refracting through otherwise invisible bacteria on your eyeball.
NB. This comment has since been retracted by the author.
Pretty sure that’s incorrect.
The common type of floater, present in most people’s eyes, is due to these degenerative changes of the vitreous.
Well, it’s what I always heard. But I’ll retract my previous comment.
This is not inside your eye, it’s outside out there. Please, do not ignore it and write to your FBI agent immediately
If you see something, say nothing, and drink to forget.
Is that from Welcome to Nightvale?
