Everything You Need To Know About Visual Snow
WHAT IS VISUAL SNOW
Visual snow is a relatively rare condition with no known exact statistics because many people do not realize they have it. Many researchers have been paying attention to the challenges of visual snow faced by patients because it was not regarded as “real” for many years. The American Academy of Neurology has been taking steps to put it on the map to be recognized as a syndrome or an eye condition.
Visual snow or visual static is a unique neurological disorder that affects the way the eyes and brain process visual information, resulting in prolonged visual disturbances. Visual snow is described as flickering and continuous tiny dots like static or snow that occupy your entire visual field. These dots look like a detuned television with poor reception. The dots sometimes appear black and white, but they may also appear transparent, colored, or flashing.
People with visual snow find it hard to see things properly and end up being distressed and tired. According to many scientific research studies, visual snow was first identified as a form of migraine. But now, it has been identified as a brain disorder by brain imaging research. There are only 200 documented cases of visual snow till now.
SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF VISUAL SNOW
The symptoms of visual snow syndrome vary from person to person, but one thing almost all people experience is the visualization of tiny dots all the time. This may get worse when you’re stressed or look at something for a long time. Symptoms of visual snow are categorized into two categories: visual and non-visual.
Visual Symptoms:
Sensitivity to light
Persistence of visual image in the visual field, even after it is no longer seen in real life.
Night blindness
Floaters in the visual field
Color swirls
Fuzziness or bright dots moving quickly [4]
Non-Visual Symptoms:
Anxiety/Depression
Fatigue
Tremors
Vertigo
Tinnitus (ringing in the ears)
Migraines
WHAT CAUSES VISUAL SNOW?
The exact cause of visual snow is unknown, but many studies report that visual snow occurs because of an abnormality in the lingual gyrus - a brain structure that plays a vital role in visual processing .
In people with visual snow, the nerve cells in the brain become overly responsive to visual stimuli. This overreaction misguides the nerve cells to send signals to the brain, resulting in the interpretation of “real images.”
DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT:
Mostly, patients with visual snow have normal brain structure and standard vision tests. Visual snow is diagnosed when a patient sees flickering tiny dots for more than three months. The exact cause of the symptoms is also ruled out.
The treatment of visual snow involves managing the symptoms by a neurologist, optometrist, and psychologist. The following medications are usually prescribed for eliminating the visual snow symptoms:
Migraine prevention medication
Anti-inflammatories like aspirin or ibuprofen
Anti-seizures like Lamictal (one study reported that Lamictal reduces the number of migraine attacks in a V.S. patient)
Blood pressure medication