Visual Snow Syndrome

Visual snow syndrome (VSS), is a neurological visual condition characterized by the perception of persistent visual disturbances. People with VSS experience what appears to be "static" or "snow" in their field of vision, similar to pixels or the static seen on a television screen when it's not tuned to a channel. This phenomenon may be accompanied by other visual symptoms, such as:

  • Palinopsia: Persistent afterimages or trailing images of objects.

  • Blue field entoptic phenomenon: Seeing tiny moving dots when looking at a clear blue sky.

  • Photophobia: Sensitivity to light.

  • Halos around objects: Seeing halos or rings around bright objects.

  • Floaters: Small, moving specks or threads in the visual field.

Clear vision

Visual snow

The exact cause of visual snow syndrome is not fully understood, but it's believed to be related to hyperexcitability or dysfunction in the visual processing pathways of the brain. Some researchers propose that it may involve abnormal processing of visual information in the visual cortex or dysfunction in the thalamus, which relays sensory information to the cortex. There may also be a genetic predisposition to developing VSS in some individuals.

Visual snow syndrome can significantly impact quality of life, causing distress, anxiety, and difficulties with concentration and vision-related tasks. It's important for individuals experiencing these symptoms to undergo a comprehensive eye examination and neurological evaluation to rule out other possible causes of visual disturbances, such as retinal disorders or migraines.

Here at EagleEye, we have great success in lessening visual snow and in some cases eliminating it. After a thorough and problem-focused functional vision evaluation, we can treat visual snow in a variety of ways.

  • Optometric Vision Therapy: work on peripheral and visual-spatial processing as well as any other visual dysfunctions that are found in the evaluation.

  • Therapeutic Lenses: special glasses that are trialed and subjectively reduce the severity of visual snow. These can include prescription lenses, magnification, tint, prism, and partial occlusion.

  • Optometric Syntonic Phototherapy: a type of light therapy geared toward improving the efficiency of central (parvocellular) and peripheral (magnocellular) visual processing.

  • Ocular Vitamins: Lutein and Zeaxanthin are two carotenoids that are present in the retina and brain. High levels of these can improve the quality and comfort of vision. These vitamins can supplement the effectiveness of the above treatments.