I didn’t know everyone doesn’t see it. I just learned of visual snow a week ago, and I’m 45!! I’ve seen this I know since I was a kid. I hated sleeping in the dark because I could see it and I felt like my eyes could never focus. I have taken hallucinogens when I was younger, in my 20s, but the only thing it did was make it move. It always looked like the snow static was floating on the surface of water. But it’s always been there. Drugs didn’t make it happen for me. Trails were there too. So much so that when I took LSD, I didn’t know I was actually tripping because I didn’t see anything different. For an entire week I just kept taking acid and saying it doesn’t work 😂😂😂 my friends thought I was crazy 🤷🏽♀️😂😂
i thought everyone saw it... it never occurred to me that people didnt see it until I was 47 and i was talking to a coworker and i said something like "ya, like the snow one sees in the dark" and she said "huh?" It instantly occurred to me that maybe it was just me so i googled it immediately its a rare condition. I'm not sure why but I felt angry... i think because i realized I was seeing this and no one else was. It doesnt usually bother me unless I think about it.. then its all i can see... or walking into a dark room its pretty bad. I realized one night that Ive never seen darkness before. I was defo born this way, remember noticing it when I was very small child when looking at a wall or something flat and smooth. I seem to see a 50/50 mix of white and black pin points. However I dont get migranes or anything like that. Also, on summer days I always seem to be the one squinting and complaining that it is very bright out.
Hi! Thank you for your work! I'm also one of those who suffers from Floaters, blue field and so on and so forth caused by this syndrome... I hope a treatment method is found, as soon as possible! Good luck in the works and endurance for all!
So what are the therapies medication or supplements currently available for us suffering from VSS. Please share even the ones that have mild too low benefits
Is anyone studying if people who have visual snow got caught in the net of "Irlen Syndrome" who may have respond to tinted lenses? As someone with an aging Irlen Identification and who is just too tired to waste money on what is said to be a baseless treatment of Irlen lenses it's interesting that something is finally being spoken about that actually describes the symptoms. So you can imagine my surprise that I'm now hearing that in some cases "precision tinted" lenses may be effective for some people. Spend a little time in the community of people who identify with the symptoms and stress of this questionable syndrome and it is clear much aligns with the effects of visual snow in the common descriptions. Possibly not all, but certainly some attempts of individuals creating their own Irlen like simulated representations of text appear to agree with the diacriptors here. So I'm wondering. Will this ever be mainstream enough for avrage children and adults to receive an official diognosis? Would it be through an ophthalmologist, or psychologist? And what are the chances that proper precision tinted lenses become accessible to the average person with a diognosis of visual snow? What's the current level of evidence on these lenses and how are they identified?
Thank you for your inquiry. What was once thought to be "baseless treatment" as you say, is now finally being seen as a valid treatment for a valid condition. Irlen Syndrome is now often called, Visual Stress. Visual Stress and Visual Snow are two different conditions that can occur separately or together. Symptoms of Visual Stress, such as the misperception of the visual environment (sometimes including spots, glow, or snow) could be mistaken for Visual Snow - and I suppose vice versa. We have seen clients in our clinic with one or the other or both. - For those with just visual stress, the filters help to reduce their misperceptions. - For those who also had visual snow, the filters reduced the visual stress and made the snow more tolerable. - For those who only had visual snow, the filter did not have an effect, and for some, made the snow worse. It is important therefore to determine if it is one or the other, or both, and take the appropriate steps to improve the individual's visual perception. We are now working with education, employment, healthcare and insurance specialists in our community who recognize Visual Stress as a condition, and the filters as an important treatment option. Our plan is to expand this awareness and understanding to their peers across Canada. We would love for it to one day become recognized by mainstream education, employment, healthcare and insurance specialists because it is something that has a huge impact on learning, working, and rehabilitation.
Dear John, thank you for your enquiry. Palinopsia is not retinal in origin, it is very definitely in the brain. Apologies if I was not clear on this. A typical story will be a patient who sees an image, say a boat, and then some time later the same image reappears somewhere else in the visual field. Usually, the original image is no longer being viewed but not always. It can be pristine or distorted in some way (upside down for example). Patients always have cerebral pathology of some sort (or drugs). What is described in visual snow is an exaggerated form of "visual persistence" This is again a normal phenomenon that we are not aware of. Whenever there is an image in the eye it will remain for a period of time after we move on and this can be measured. There are mechanisms to keep this to a minimum especially if the image is moving across the retina or flickering. At low light levels, the retina slows down to capture more light and we can easily see this persistence - I always remember with sparklers on bonfire night you can write your name etc. So "comet trails" is how some patients describe this rather than the persistence of a stationary image after looking away. What is abnormal in VSS is that people are aware of this in the every day. The problem with the nomenclature is that the "afterimages" that everyone is aware of are "negative" if you stare for a long time at a red light source the afterimage will be green, and a black-on-white image will be white on black. This is a reversal of the colour or luminance contrast. These are generated in the retina and optic nerve. We did a study measuring these in VSS and there was no abnormality. It is harder to measure "positive" after images such as described in VSS and I suspect that this is also happening in the brain Gordon Plant
@@johnp3195 Yes, This is something that people without VSS see as well. It is good to have an example like this so those of us who don't experience true visual snow can relate to those who do. This is why we have created simulations of perceptual distortions on our website; so those who don't see perceptual illusions can understand better what those who do experience them are describing. You can see them here: www.opticalm.ca/sample-distortions
What was described in the video is that for some, filtering light with precision tinted lenses can reduce some or all of the perceptual distortions experienced by many diagnosed with Visual Snow. The perceptual distortions that often lead to a diagnosis of visual snow include static, flashes of light, colour splotches, ghosting or after images, and sensitivity to light. We have received referrals to our clinic for three types of individuals diagnosed with Visual Snow. The first group, and those who experienced the best results with the filters, were experiencing perceptual distortions and sensitivities as described above but their difficulties stemmed from visual stress, the hyperactivation of their visual cortex. Another group, with the same reported misperceptions, found some relief from the distortions and sensitivities when the precision tinted lenses were worn, but some visual noise still remained. My thought was that we reduced the visual stress with the lenses but not the visual snow. The final group experienced no relief with the lenses since the lenses are designed to address the perceptual distortions from visual stress, not the visual snow. These clients did not have visual stress, so the lenses had no effect. What is important here, for anyone diagnosed with visual snow, is to rule out perceptual distortions and sensitivities that are resulting from visual stress and accommodate with lenses if any of the noted symptoms are reduced. So, the precision tinted lenses are not a cure for visual snow, but have the potential to reduced symptoms if visual stress is also present. Karen
@@VisualStressSolutions Tinted lenses worked well for me, I actually used them before I even realized I had this condition, I just kept thinking like "This is how my vision should be" whenever I used the tinted ones.
I didn’t know everyone doesn’t see it. I just learned of visual snow a week ago, and I’m 45!! I’ve seen this I know since I was a kid. I hated sleeping in the dark because I could see it and I felt like my eyes could never focus. I have taken hallucinogens when I was younger, in my 20s, but the only thing it did was make it move. It always looked like the snow static was floating on the surface of water. But it’s always been there. Drugs didn’t make it happen for me. Trails were there too. So much so that when I took LSD, I didn’t know I was actually tripping because I didn’t see anything different. For an entire week I just kept taking acid and saying it doesn’t work 😂😂😂 my friends thought I was crazy 🤷🏽♀️😂😂
i thought everyone saw it... it never occurred to me that people didnt see it until I was 47 and i was talking to a coworker and i said something like "ya, like the snow one sees in the dark" and she said "huh?" It instantly occurred to me that maybe it was just me so i googled it immediately its a rare condition. I'm not sure why but I felt angry... i think because i realized I was seeing this and no one else was. It doesnt usually bother me unless I think about it.. then its all i can see... or walking into a dark room its pretty bad. I realized one night that Ive never seen darkness before. I was defo born this way, remember noticing it when I was very small child when looking at a wall or something flat and smooth. I seem to see a 50/50 mix of white and black pin points. However I dont get migranes or anything like that. Also, on summer days I always seem to be the one squinting and complaining that it is very bright out.
damaged at birth ? vaccines ? artificial baby food full of chemicals ?
Hi! Thank you for your work! I'm also one of those who suffers from Floaters, blue field and so on and so forth caused by this syndrome... I hope a treatment method is found, as soon as possible! Good luck in the works and endurance for all!
Thank you! We are working hard to spread #VisualStress awareness and setting up optometrists with the medical devices so they can perform assessments.
So what are the therapies medication or supplements currently available for us suffering from VSS. Please share even the ones that have mild too low benefits
I am a law student from India!
Since many weeks i am having this problem of Palinopsia. Can it be reduced or cured?
We are not in a position to assist you with this inquiry. Please contact a neuro-ophthalmologist or neurologist for investigation.
How is it now ?
Is anyone studying if people who have visual snow got caught in the net of "Irlen Syndrome" who may have respond to tinted lenses?
As someone with an aging Irlen Identification and who is just too tired to waste money on what is said to be a baseless treatment of Irlen lenses it's interesting that something is finally being spoken about that actually describes the symptoms.
So you can imagine my surprise that I'm now hearing that in some cases "precision tinted" lenses may be effective for some people.
Spend a little time in the community of people who identify with the symptoms and stress of this questionable syndrome and it is clear much aligns with the effects of visual snow in the common descriptions. Possibly not all, but certainly some attempts of individuals creating their own Irlen like simulated representations of text appear to agree with the diacriptors here.
So I'm wondering. Will this ever be mainstream enough for avrage children and adults to receive an official diognosis? Would it be through an ophthalmologist, or psychologist? And what are the chances that proper precision tinted lenses become accessible to the average person with a diognosis of visual snow?
What's the current level of evidence on these lenses and how are they identified?
Thank you for your inquiry. What was once thought to be "baseless treatment" as you say, is now finally being seen as a valid treatment for a valid condition. Irlen Syndrome is now often called, Visual Stress. Visual Stress and Visual Snow are two different conditions that can occur separately or together. Symptoms of Visual Stress, such as the misperception of the visual environment (sometimes including spots, glow, or snow) could be mistaken for Visual Snow - and I suppose vice versa.
We have seen clients in our clinic with one or the other or both.
- For those with just visual stress, the filters help to reduce their misperceptions.
- For those who also had visual snow, the filters reduced the visual stress and made the snow more tolerable.
- For those who only had visual snow, the filter did not have an effect, and for some, made the snow worse.
It is important therefore to determine if it is one or the other, or both, and take the appropriate steps to improve the individual's visual perception.
We are now working with education, employment, healthcare and insurance specialists in our community who recognize Visual Stress as a condition, and the filters as an important treatment option. Our plan is to expand this awareness and understanding to their peers across Canada. We would love for it to one day become recognized by mainstream education, employment, healthcare and insurance specialists because it is something that has a huge impact on learning, working, and rehabilitation.
why do you say that palinopsia comes from the retina? could you please back it up?
Dear John, thank you for your enquiry. Palinopsia is not retinal in origin, it is very definitely in the brain. Apologies if I was not clear on this. A typical story will be a patient who sees an image, say a boat, and then some time later the same image reappears somewhere else in the visual field. Usually, the original image is no longer being viewed but not always. It can be pristine or distorted in some way (upside down for example). Patients always have cerebral pathology of some sort (or drugs).
What is described in visual snow is an exaggerated form of "visual persistence" This is again a normal phenomenon that we are not aware of. Whenever there is an image in the eye it will remain for a period of time after we move on and this can be measured. There are mechanisms to keep this to a minimum especially if the image is moving across the retina or flickering. At low light levels, the retina slows down to capture more light and we can easily see this persistence - I always remember with sparklers on bonfire night you can write your name etc. So "comet trails" is how some patients describe this rather than the persistence of a stationary image after looking away.
What is abnormal in VSS is that people are aware of this in the every day. The problem with the nomenclature is that the "afterimages" that everyone is aware of are "negative" if you stare for a long time at a red light source the afterimage will be green, and a black-on-white image will be white on black. This is a reversal of the colour or luminance contrast. These are generated in the retina and optic nerve. We did a study measuring these in VSS and there was no abnormality. It is harder to measure "positive" after images such as described in VSS and I suspect that this is also happening in the brain
Gordon Plant
@@karenmonet I understand now thank you. Is the example with sparklers on bonfire true for people without VSS too?
@@johnp3195 Yes, This is something that people without VSS see as well. It is good to have an example like this so those of us who don't experience true visual snow can relate to those who do. This is why we have created simulations of perceptual distortions on our website; so those who don't see perceptual illusions can understand better what those who do experience them are describing. You can see them here: www.opticalm.ca/sample-distortions
Is there a cure or a new method to remove this condition?
What was described in the video is that for some, filtering light with precision tinted lenses can reduce some or all of the perceptual distortions experienced by many diagnosed with Visual Snow. The perceptual distortions that often lead to a diagnosis of visual snow include static, flashes of light, colour splotches, ghosting or after images, and sensitivity to light. We have received referrals to our clinic for three types of individuals diagnosed with Visual Snow.
The first group, and those who experienced the best results with the filters, were experiencing perceptual distortions and sensitivities as described above but their difficulties stemmed from visual stress, the hyperactivation of their visual cortex.
Another group, with the same reported misperceptions, found some relief from the distortions and sensitivities when the precision tinted lenses were worn, but some visual noise still remained. My thought was that we reduced the visual stress with the lenses but not the visual snow.
The final group experienced no relief with the lenses since the lenses are designed to address the perceptual distortions from visual stress, not the visual snow. These clients did not have visual stress, so the lenses had no effect.
What is important here, for anyone diagnosed with visual snow, is to rule out perceptual distortions and sensitivities that are resulting from visual stress and accommodate with lenses if any of the noted symptoms are reduced.
So, the precision tinted lenses are not a cure for visual snow, but have the potential to reduced symptoms if visual stress is also present.
Karen
@@VisualStressSolutions Tinted lenses worked well for me, I actually used them before I even realized I had this condition, I just kept thinking like "This is how my vision should be" whenever I used the tinted ones.