Vision -- After Image After Blinking?

[jwalter0228]

This has been driving me insane for a while now. I'm not sure if this is a strange symptom or just a common visual phenomenon that has always occurred that my mind has picked up on and decided to obsess over.

When looking at a bright medium - be it a window during daytime, computer screen, television, etc - and then looking away at another surface such as a wall, I notice that I will see an after image when I blink. It will at first be the outline of light source and then fade to dark. I'll blink several times until it goes away. It is most evident when the surface is in a dim setting.

I only see the after image when I blink, not when my eyes stay open. I've tried looking this up online but I can't find anything about it. Is this normal for everyone?

It doesn't have to be a heavily bright source of light. As I said, I will simply be watching television, then turn where I am facing the wall. When I blink, I'll see a flash of light that goes away almost instantly.

[Fishmanpa]

Totally a common visual phenomenon.

Positive thoughts

[MyNameIsTerry]

You see because light enters your eyes and produces chemical changes in the retina, the light-sensitive lining at the back of your eyes. Prolonged stimulation by a bright image desensitizes part of the retina. When you look at the white wall, light reflecting from the wall shines onto your retina. The area of the retina that was desensitized by the bright image does not respond as well to this new light input as the rest of the retina. This area appears as a negative afterimage, a dark area that matches the original shape. The afterimage may remain for 30 seconds or longer.

The apparent size of the afterimage depends not only on the size of the image on your retina, but also on how far away you perceive the image to be. When you look at your hand, you see the negative afterimage on your hand. Because your hand is near you, you see the image as relatively small--no bigger than your hand. When you look at a distant wall, you see the negative afterimage on the wall. But it is not the same size as the afterimage you saw on your hand. You see the afterimage on the wall as much bigger--large enough to cover a considerable area of the wall. The afterimage is not actually on either surface, but on your retina. The actual afterimage does not change size; only your interpretation of its size changes.

[Brunette]

It's completely normal.

[venusbluejeans]

take a look here :)

http://brainden.com/afterimages.htm