Visual Snow

Hi! I have visual snow which started in 2017, but four years ago, in the summer, my eyesight began to deteriorate. Glasses don't help me, my symptoms are a deterioration of the central areas of my vision in both eyes. I see dots in my vision every 5-10 minutes that appear and disappear. They are individual in every eye. if I look at the sky they are white and yellow, in the dark they look dark blue. they usually disappear in 5 minutes, but some stay for two to three hours. When I'm in total darkness, I see the same dots, only very small ones that are not visible in the light. My vision is being destroyed by these dots, I have small blind spots all over my vision. I can see my blind spots in the amsler test, but most of them are visible on line patterns. For 4 years I have been checked in clinics in my country and everyone tells me that everything is fine with my eyes, I recently checked in the USA, with a retina specialist and he told me that my eyes are absolutely healthy and there is no reason for such symptoms. I do not know what to do. I used to manage somehow, but now it's very difficult for me to live, to do ordinary things. I feel lost. I'm 22 years old, male. I know it's not very much related to Visual snow, but could you share if you have ever experienced something like this? I know I posted this here before and also to the Facebook group, I just wanted to more people see it, maybe some can relate.Thanks

28 yo female with Visual Snow likely related to childhood skull fracture. Static started out extremely mild in my early 20s, but now greatly influences my lifestyle as it’s incrementally worsened after stressful life events. Static, palinopsia, night blindness, floaters, and depersonalization makes certain aspects of life bothersome. Reading text, in particular, is chaotic because all of the words look like they’re shaking and shifting.

Describing my vision often feels like a worthless endeavor because it’s such a conundrum to explain to people. I can do reading tasks, but it’s such a labor of love to see through all of the mess that is VS. I never quite have the concise words to explain to people how my vision is impaired and what my needs are because of it. What words do you use when you are trying to communicate this to your friends and coworkers?

Hi everyone! I've been lurking on this subreddit for a while and figured I'd share my story and see if anyone is going through something similar.

I've always had issues with light sensitivity, migraines, and motion sickness since I was a kid. I also started getting tinnitus during high school that was constant and never went away. However, I did not experience visual snow until this past June. It was sudden. I stayed up unusually late that night and woke up seeing static in my entire field of vision. Since that night, it has changed. The static got a little worse. My night vision decreased. I was way more sensitive to light than usual. I had migraines a lot more often (but then none after summer was over). I got palinopsia and psychological issues such as heavy depersonalization/derealization, brain fog, and forgetfulness. I panicked and managed to get in with a neuro-ophthalmolist.

I got electrical vision testing. My cone and rod responses are hypernormal. Everything else is normal. My doctor suggested lamotrigine and I've been on that for about a month now. Started at 25 mg, then titrated to 50 and then 100. I've been on 100 for a week and there hasn't been any relief from the static. However, I've been in a much better mood and can typically ignore the static better. I didn't get a MRI or any other testing done yet and my next appointment is in February.

It's definitely been a struggle to manage, especially since I have excessive screen time and high stress/anxiety. I have yet to find significant relief, but I noticed I barely see the static when I'm outdoors. I'm trying to stay positive and hope that something will work, but the hypernormal aspect of my results are definitely stressing me out.

Has anyone had a similar experience? Thanks in advance for sharing!

Since as long as I can remember I’ve had visual snow (and tinnitus, though also quite light) but it was super light and only noticeable when very dark, as I got older it got a tiny bit worse but still I forgot I have it. On top of that I smoked weed twice a week for 3 months before this experience, but notice no change. Now a few months ago around 3 1/2 I took 80ug (I am 5’9 and 60kg) of LSD and 6 hours in the trip I mixed it with weed and greened out badly for another 6 hours, after I greened out it tuned into a bad trip (basically just felt like the worst green out in the world). Next day I felt empty and weird but thought this was normal. For the first month nothing really felt real and I was severely depressed, a lot of anxiety attacks and suicidal and I also went a bit into a nut job for a while, next month was the same but less extreme in all degrees, still a lot of anxiety and depression less suicide, but then I started to notice the ringing in my ears more to the point there it annoyed me, along with my static vision feeling worse. Next month and a half, 80% depression gone, panic attacks are rare, little bit suicidal thoughts but feeling better ringing kinda stopped bothering me until I got sick last week and even though I feel fine it’s much louder and more bothersome and my static eyes feel like they are bothering me even more. Saw an eye doctor, they said my eyes were healthy and had nothing wrong with them, but are super dry and I need eye drops and a heating bag, but I feel like that’s making my eyes worse, not sure. Do you guys think that the visual snow will calm down after a few months and the ringing?

I'm just curious to see whether my situation is unique or common for people in the subreddit. I've had visual snow for my entire life but it doesn't really cause me any distress so I wouldn't classify it as a disorder/syndrome or whatever. Everything I see all the time has a layer of "static" over it but it's really only noticeable to the extent that the pixels on a TV screen are noticeable. Like it's there, but it doesn't impaire my ability to see and understand visual stimuli. My vision is otherwise good, I'm (I think) unusually sensitive to light but I have pretty good night vision so I feel it's a fair trade off. I do see a lot of floaters and some light distortion stuff when I'm looking into a bright clear area but again not to an extent that it causes any problems for me usually. I generally just don't think about it, because as I said I have literally always had it. When I was a kid I thought the snow was fairies and then when I got a bit older I thought I was seeing atoms or matter something lol. My brother also has it, I think his is/has been a bit worse than mine, exacerbated by other neurological problems. I hope this doesn't sound like bragging about not having serious vision problems, I just saw a post where op was saying you don't actually have visual snow unless it's a serious issue for you so I was curious whether the majority of people with visual snow have serious problems due to it. I guess it could also be that it's not very well known so most people who talk about having it are ones who it really disables. I only realized it wasn't normal to see static everywhere in my late teens and found out it was a documented thing other people had a few years ago.

When I talk about "orthostatic hypotension", I mean the associated phenomen of temporary vision loss that sometimes occurs when you stand up too quickly after laying down. For me that vision loss occurs as visual snow that gets so strong I only see black and white static for a few moments. The VSS I'm experiencing is like a very very mild version of that. Has anyone else noticed the similarity too? I know its unlikely, but can that correlation maybe help in finding out what exactly is causing VSS? I cant be the first one noticing how similar thede phenomena are right?

Hello Everyone! I am a 30 year old male, have been wearing lenses for myopia for the past 15 years. Almost two months ago I moved to London, until then my eyesight was good with my contact lenses, however the next day after moving I suddenly developed big halos and starbursts around bright lights in the night. I have consulted many ophthalmologists and optometrists and they found nothing wrong with my eyes, besides my corneal thickness being high (but that could be just the way my eyes are). I have made some research online and found about vss and apparently I have it. Its barely noticeable during the day but in the night in a dark room its very noticeable. I also have had some episodes of tinnitus but no other symptoms. The halos have been getting better but veeeery gradually. Its been almost two months and they are still there just lighter. The ophthalmologists have said i have corneal oedema cause of the contacts and that I shouldnt wear them for months for the halos to go away (i have already not been wearing them for almost a month) but im starting to think its just the vss. Anyone had the same problem? Did they ever go away? Did they come back? I would appreciate some help as I am pretty anxious. Thank you so much.

Firstly, I want to thank everyone for their comments and thoughts on my last post! It’s interesting to see so many people here effected in some way by this issue and yet others will say it’s not related and blame astigmatism… I will say personally, That I developed this issue along with many others only after summiting MT. Fuji in July and getting rather severe altitude sickness, so I think it’s not far fetched for me to think that this is potentially brain related. I never even payed attention to lights before that and couldn’t even tell you what a starburst or halo was. Since then I see huge, fast moving rays of light that are uncomfortably bright and will ram into your view light a phoenix. It can be uniform like 2 headlights or even just one big one around the whole car. I see this constantly day and night, even from the suns glare and I’m convinced many others do too. So please, don’t let people try to say that you are over anxious or just need astigmatism fixed. The things we see would bring a lot of people to their knees, I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy…

Wondering if anybody else has other symptoms associated with VSS such tinnitus, insomnia, anxiety, and migraines. I have all except migraines, though I do see auras and afterimages. Also how many of you guys have those? I think I’ve always had it, as long as I can remember.

Anyone have any information on this?

I’m not really sure if i have VSS, but from my research, i possess most of the symptoms. It only became apparent to me after a bad experience smoking weed, and although the few weeks after that moment were probably one of the worst of my life and caused some lasting effects that have really impacted my mental health , it’s been decently easy to live with and ignore. Except one thing.

I think maybe a few months after that bad experience, i started experiencing flashes of light that was just one little white spot. It started happening like, multiple times a day, and it scared me to the point i thought i had some retinal issue (these spots barely appear now). I ultimately got over it, but then a few months after, i started experiencing flashes in my peripheral vision. It’s like a white circle in the corner of my eye that comes and goes. I’ve discovered it gets worse with the amount of screen time i have plus how close the screen is to my face. More of both = worse. Less of both = the light shows up less and if it does show up ill barely see it

I mainly see it when i lay down, and if i see it when im sitting up it’s on an extremely rare occasion. I also see it when my eyes are closed. Once, it got so bad that the circle would go across my whole vision instead of just my peripheral. I also had a headache that was like behind my eyes??? Though, over time it got better.

If it’s VSS, I’m not really concerned. But, I’ve been seeing it could also be a retinal problem, which i was worried about before, or a vitreous detachment (which could lead to retinal damage). I feel like this could be likely because i do have bad myopia. But, at the same time, I’m only 14, and the flashes have persisted for over a year which I feel like is unnaturally long for this kind of problem. I do also have floaters, though, and that’s just making me more worried.

I always had perfect vision until I had a migraine aura 1.5 years ago, since then a lot of floaters appeared and I developed starburst halos when looking at light sources, blue field entoptic phenomenon and floaters. I have no static visual for now.

However when I look at the sky or white bright surfaces I see hundreds of floating transparent orbs moving. They don't look like the samples I have seen on the Internet, as they are not white, they are transparent. Is this bfep or something else? Does anyone get the same?

Has anyone done this test? When the C goes super faint do you also struggle to read it due to the snow?

https://www.zeiss.com/vision-care/en/eye-health-and-care/zeiss-online-vision-screening-check.html

So I’ve had visual snow for a while now but the thing that really bothers me is the after images so for example if I sit at my desk and the light from my lamp is in my peripheral vision once I actually get up I have the after image of the lamp in my peripheral for about 4 minutes until it goes away and it’s basically just a black outline of the lamp or just black in the corner of my eyes and it’s super annoying I was wondering if anyone else gets this too

I have felt a bit off balance lately. I was wondering if slight low blood pressure or mild anemia is making it worse.

When I focus on still stationary objects they appear to move slightly like back and fourth or up and down. If I stand up or walk, the sign hanging from the distance will kinda bounce with each step I take rather than stay still.

I can’t tell if the vision is making me feel off balance or if the off balance feeling is making my vision shake and bouncy. I’ve also had head pressure related to a cold last week.

Does anyone get this weird movement vision? My eyes do not physically move and shake just the visual output.

I ain't no math magician but

Hello, I have a problem and wanted to ask if anyone has experienced something similar. When I’m in daylight or normal lighting, I notice pressure phosphenes on the sides, both right and left. For context: I work 8 hours a day in front of a screen, and my eyes are often tired and feel strained. Has anyone else experienced this?

I don’t really think I see faces and I don’t see horrible imagery as I seen other people with VSS talk about, but I do see random flashes (mainly at night), in the day black dots rarely, i do think some things are people when they are not.

As a child I used to run crying, terrified to my parents because I believed the shadows created from my nightlight moved. I know now it was hallucinations? But I’m not sure what caused them.

For the random black dots. It’s like my vision sometimes becomes watching an old black and white movie and you can see the flash of a black dot from the tape.

I do have after images but this I don’t know if it’s something to do with my VSS or my glasses but sometimes it feels like objects around me have strings? It’s like almost a ghost image of the object, a small outline of the physical object. It trips me out.

Hello, i got VSS since childhood and git IT Diagnosed via a survey a year ago , a few days ago i went to the Hospital to an Neuro doc. She did an Reaktion Exam with me Like Reflexes , touching my nose with closed eyes etc. She Said neurologically wihtout an Mri i was fine. Then she told me she would Order an Mri to calm me down BC she is extremly Sure there will me nothing and If nothing extremly Bad. I told her im scared of going blind instantly and she told me that she cant See into the Future and that nothing is at a 0 Chance but i wouldnt have any Symptoms and IT IS extremly unrealtistic fear.

I was at the Eye doc a few weeks ago but im scared something is wrong with my vison center in my Brain or my nerves. Last Time the doc told me nothing is wrong with my nerve but she Just Made an regular eye Exam.

The Neruo doc also told me to Go to a Psychiatrist or Therapist since my VSS could also bei high sensibility ADHD , wich would explain why i get overstimulated and exhausted by flashy Lights and colors.

She told me i was very likley phisically Healthy , but mentally i would be very i'll and would harm myself with constant Panic since my calm Pulse is as IT seems pretty high.

She have me some Anxiety calming medication wich kicked in after 5 minutes , i felt Like i couldnt think.

Would you somehow equate visual snow to that pins and needles phenomenon (not necessarily pain) you get when your limb "falls asleep." I kind of do. It's kind of like I'm not receiving the right amount of oxygen levels. And/or nerves are misfiring.

I've noticed I have pretty shallow breathing for whatever reason whenever I get bouts of visual snow. This shallow breathing and visual snow, however, gets better after moderate anaerobic exercise.

Also, I've been told I have larger than normal/average pupils by two optometrists. Only recently, though. Anybody else?

Anybody else have deep-set eyes? Tendency to yawn? When yawning, feel the urge to/do end up releasing minimal tears? When lying down have the occasional tear drop? Broken capillaries? Nose bleed frequently? Need glasses? Seasonal allergies? Anemic? Low iron levels? Low heart rate? Thin skin? Don't go out much/into the sun/fresh air?

So I have been using Irlen glasses for the past year. What they have mainly been doing is sort of nuetralizing the snow in a way that makes me notice it less. Which is awesome! But I still experience palinopsia, night blindness, photophobia, esp extremer sensitive to bright lights and glare. Afterimages. The glasses help a little but not much with these other symptoms, and then there's just feeling like I'm wearing sunglasses all of the time, which doesn't feel as cool as Bono makes it look.

Anyway I have a friend with VSS who tried glasses designed for night driving (not the yellow kind, something new) and they reduced her symptoms a lot. So I finally got mine today and boy howdy they really do help! The snow is even reduced somehow. I was just telling by husband that I haven't been able to watch a movie that has grain in the image and distinguish the grain from the snow. Now I can actually see the difference! And lights are so much easier to look at. A lot less after images. It's great. I'm very happy for the first time in a while...

Just want to say this isn't an ad. I really did try these and they really did help. I almost started crying after wearing them for an hour or so it just felt like I was the closest to normal I have been in ages. Snow is still there and the other stuff is still there, but it's just much much better

Anyway they are the night driving lenses from zenni if you want to try. If anyone knows about this and knows another place that makes a similar lense and/or has tried this kind of lense please let me know! I'm looking for a place that does lenses like these that will put new lenses into my old glasses too. Zenni doesn't do that ☠️

The color is barely noticeable but it's kind of a faint violet. I don't know how they work exactly but they help.

VSS Person 1: Well, I see pink dots and some glitter at night in my dark bedroom. How about you?

VSS Person 2: Interesting...so I see these purple clouds and then a green haze across my central vision, apart from that some coloured dots also might show up.

Non VSS person accidentally listening to this convo be like: ???

Its a type of printing technique, same one used on dollar bill

I've searched for this and haven't found any posts or answers to this question, so I'm curious: do you have VSS but no floaters? For instance, you have the static, afterimages, palinopsia, photophobia, nylactiphobia, etc. but no floaters in your vision. LMK!

Lately like the last few months or so, I’ve been getting increasing amounts of black like tiny splotches that last a few seconds and then leave. I’ve been to eyes doctors and had a CT scan. All checked out fine. Anyone experiencing this? Also sometimes I feel like I’m dizzy when I get it, or fatigued. Wondering if it’s a deficiency.

When I look at this wall, I see a lot of lines moving asynchronously - anyone else experiencing that?

When you were a child, did any of you have hallucinations at night? I mean when I was a child I would wake up at night and want to go somewhere and I would scream and my parents would have to hold me. I had no consciousness of what I was doing and saw strange things. Now my niece, who was diagnosed with brain lesions, has it. I don't know exactly what kind of lesions, but something related to epilepsy. Her doctor said it was genetic. I would like to know how many of you had the same thing as a child.