What are these strange patterns behind my eyes?

your thoughts

I get the same. I wouldn’t worry.

I get them too when I put pressure on my eyes.

Those are artifacts of nerve stimulation from processes other than photons. The phenomenon of “seeing stars” when one is hit on the head is similar: it means that the occipital lobe, where vision is processed, has been bumped. The things you see are from retinal pressure. There are also random one caused by inarticulate firing of the neurons. The images are called phosphenes.

They are Phosphenes

Excellent @pdworkin and @sndfreQ thank you!! I’ve wondered about that for years !! Very interesting indeed…

I get those too. Very cool. Thanks for the question.

Could be floaters…occasionally, I get these! But, if it only does it after a shower, doubt it is floaters.

@BoBo1946 I don’t think its floaters. Pretty sure @pdworkin and @sndfreQ are right. Floaters would mainly cause blurs and shadows in your vision as opposed to colours.

But yes I also get these. Usually when I put pressure on my eyes or when I get a head rush sometimes. Kinda like the colours after looking at a bright light that stay in your vision for a little while.

I almost always get them when I have showers too…strange.

Floaters are a serarate phenomenon. The picture in the wiki article is exactly correct. I’ve had them in my right eye for over 20 years.

The phosphene effect can be demonstrated by lightly pressing your finger against the side of your closed eyelid. A rainbow colored “bullseye” will be visualized at the opposite side of the vision field in that eye.

Great Question, Lynne.

thanks guys for the GQs! xx

Yes I’m pretty sure that @pdworkin and @sndfreQ have got it spot on…. they do look like the patterns in the wiki article… only…in colour! ...I wonder whether everyone gets them in colour?? anyone?

I actually really like the phenomenon.. It is really rather pleasant…

I do wonder whether there is a purpose to these phenomenon or whether it is epiphenomenal? @pdworkin ?

Is there a purpose to vision? Those are nerve stimulations being received in the occipital lobe and interpreted in the temporal and frontal lobes, just as they would be if the cones and rods were being stimulated by light, but since they are pressure induced they do not reflect the position and shape of any objects.

I would have said yes the purpose to vision is to inform of the our external world (as do other senses) and enable us to function within this environment… for survival.

I guess I’m intrigued because obviously as you say these shapes are not conducive to the (what I understand it to be…) purpose of normal vision… so perhaps these patterns have another purpose… Interesting that pressure can invoke images as well as light… I’m not a scientist so I have no idea really but fascinating nonetheless

and why these particular images rather than just perhaps a black spot like you get with other types of pressure (as referred to above by @stranger_in_a_strange_land ) or something equally…boring and non-distinct…?

Sometimes you induce a nerve to fire, sometimes you don’t. It’s called a stimulus threshold.

wow…this simple question is getting real deep! waiting and watching..lol

<<< needs to learn more about the eye and nerves and the brain before attempting to discuss this further… anyone care to jump in?

What do you want to know?

Your optic nerve is mistranslating ambient light, and pressure on your eyelids as random colors. It’s nothing to be concerned about.

[mod says] Off-topic, personal comments removed.

I think they are communications from a crystalline alien civilization that speaks kaleidoscopically. Who you gonna believe, me or your lying eyes? :)

@CaptainHarley I’m not concerned about it… just intrigued… but…‘ambient light’? what’s that then? I didn’t think there was any light in your eye once shut… though I guess some still gets through?

@pdworkin well I guess…everything there is really…the basics and from then onwards… but I can do the research… I don’t want to waste your time when I can go and look it up on wiki or something…

@Factotum yes…quite…:-D kind of one of the thing that I was getting to… (not the aliens…) but the fact that our eyes “lie” anyway don’t they.. we don’t really see things as they are do we? whatever that is….

temporary Glacoma from the pressure?