Here we go again - more snow, more visual problems

[kaisersozay]

For the rest of the year, I can normally deflect away the anxiety over my vision. I noticed floaters, visual snow and scheerer's phenomenon - small white/flashing dots 'dancing' around in the sky.

When it snows however, it sets me back.

My eyes are fine, they have been tested, no problems. But when I look at bright surfaces, I can see this scheerer's phenomenon in all its glory.

Today, it has been snowing and I cant look at the stuff without noticing these dancing dots. Then, the final turd in the waterpipe, I look at the sky and those dots are so profound, as though somebody has one of those sparkler fireworks and is waving it in the air. Thats all I notice when snow falls, and it makes me angry and stressed. I try telling myself 'when I stop being so anxious they will go' but I was wondering if anybody else had this?

[gaaron]

Hi, no I don't get it to that extreme. But I do remember making my eyes do that on purpose when it snowed when I was a little girl -because I thought it made the world look magical! x

[Meg37]

Yes I have all of that stuff and what has helped me is getting a pair of persription sunglasses (I'm long sighted and a 13+!!). It's just one of those things and utterly annoying but I've just learnt to live with it.

[Vixxy]

I get it when I try and read when the book pages are super white or if the sun is shining on the paper. It's frustrating!!!

[Lissy43]

Yes, when the snow is here I have loads of black floaters and wavy lines. It is just dead cells on your lens, so they show up more when you look at anything white.

[Rachel W]

I have that too and also get the odd black or white dot that shines for a few seconds and then they disappear. It varies where they are. I also got a lot more floaters this year which really freaked me out, but I didn't get major flashes of lightening and they haven't got worse so I try not to worry. The eyes can really become a focus for worry. I have been there this year.

It also looks like I am looking at a picture with bad reception in lower light or when looking at plain surfaces. This scares me too.

Hope that you feel better soon.

[Lynnann]

ok shoot me if I wrong,

I don't have health anxiety, I try to understand it but don't quite quite get it?

Don't get me wrong I have lots of issues that others don't understand so I am willing to try and understand others situations. But we have all have had the dancing dots in our lifetime, I thought it may help as a non HA sufferer, I remember them as a child before my eyes were as used as they are now lol.

We accept dead pixels on screens from wear and tear "general use" yet body parts are supposed to remain in full working order without signs of wear and tear? Are you not able to accept it is just a sign of being human? Your eyes have been tested you know they are ok? You are getting angry and stressed over a normal human reaction? why?

There are things is life that you can control, a natural reaction to bright shiny surfaces and light? That is how your eyes are designed to react, you can't change it, getting angry and stressed won't help it will only heighten your anxiety and reactions.

Lordy you are human, your body will react to certain stimuli in the way designed, remember you have so much going for you and concentrate on the positive aspects rather than what you percieve as a fault?

Remember no one is perfect and each day is a bright new day

Lynnann

[jen2503]

i get the scheerer's phenomenon, i first noticed it walking home one day from town, id had a drink and was looking at the sky, this is the moment my health anxiety kicked in! i still see them now 1 year later but not as much as i used to, now with the snow i do notice them more but they no longer bother me. i was actually thinking the other day i hadnt seen them for a while so i stared at the snow to see if they were still there and they were, i think i had just managed to ignore them, they dont worry me anymore, in fact i went through a stage of saying hi to them like you would an old friend to show myself they are not scary and that seems to have worked. i get floaters too occasionally but only see them when stressed. i painted my living room bright white with the purpose of seeing them so i could train myself to ignore them and i no longer see them on white walls or in the sky unless i really focus on trying to see them. you can train yourself to ignore them but it takes time.

[Schtopper]

EVERYBODY gets them, it's simply the fact that 99% of people don't notice them.

They are a normal, perfectly normal, 'feature' of how the eye works and because they are there from birth till death the brain ignores them.

However if you focus on their presence your brain interprates them to be important and stops ignoring them, to you they become obvious.

Scheerer's phenomenon is simply blood cells moving along the capillaries (tiny blood vessels) in the retina. They are more obvious against a bright background, such as a clear summer sky (or nice white cloudy sky). It is believed they are specifically white blood cells (as these are larger than red blood cells) but it isn't 100% confirmed.

None the less it is a phenomena that everyone gets and can see if they concentrated hard enough.

Your anxiety and constant fixation on this sensation is what is making them obvious to you, the more you worry about them the more hypersensitive to their existence you will be.


Stop thinking about them, stop worrying about what they are, and your brain will go back to ignoring them.

I see them as well, thousands of tiny white specs with tails dancing around like insects, i can 'focus' on them at will and ignore them just as easily.

Again to reiterate, they are normal, images caused by the blood cells in the vessels of your eye, they won't go away because they aren't supposed to, but stop worrying about them and your brain will simply tune them out again like it has for most of your life.


Floaters again are normal. They are clumps of material in the vitreous of the eyeball (the fluid that fills the eyeball between lens and retina). As light shines on the clumps of material they cast shadows on the retina and you perceive these shadows as 'floaters'. They are called floaters because they move around, specifically with eye movement. Moving the eye causes the fluid in your eye to move also, which in turns moves the clumps of vitreous material around and you see the floaters move around your field of vision.

The number of floaters your see will come and go, these clumps will be broken down and new ones will form from time to time. In addition to this the vitreous liquid starts of at birth very gel like and thick, over the years it slowly becomes more watery. It will start to pull away from the retina as it shrinks. This whole process can cause an increase of 'floaters' but again is a normal part of ageing.

The only thing to take notice of is if there is a sudden LARGE increase in floaters in your field of vision, significantly more than normal. This could be caused by a retinal tear as the vitreous pulls away from the retina and it should be checked by an opthalmologist to ensure the retina is ok or if it requires a tear repairing. This is uncommon under the age of 50, and much more common over 70.