Thread: what does your HI look like?

Originally Posted by drewmandan

Umm, if you're talking about those really bright green blobs, those aren't HI. That has to do with your retina freaking out and it happens even when you're awake.

I have never heard of or experienced these green flashes , what is this phenomenon called? I hope this means I have good retinas lol

Originally Posted by Shift

I have never heard of or experienced these green flashes , what is this phenomenon called? I hope this means I have good retinas lol

They're called phosphenes, or at least it's a particular variety of phosphene. Phosphenes can be caused by many different things. The easiest way to experience a phosphene first hand is to take your finger and push on the outside side of one of your eyeballs (like at the outside corner where the top and bottom eyelids meet) and push it towards your nose. On the nose side of that eye, you will see a black semicircle with a white or gold edge.

The example of bright green blobs happens (to me at least) when you go from being in a very brightly lit room to there being no light at all. It's quite rare, but that's the trigger.

Originally Posted by drewmandan

They're called phosphenes, or at least it's a particular variety of phosphene. Phosphenes can be caused by many different things. The easiest way to experience a phosphene first hand is to take your finger and push on the outside side of one of your eyeballs (like at the outside corner where the top and bottom eyelids meet) and push it towards your nose. On the nose side of that eye, you will see a black semicircle with a white or gold edge.

The example of bright green blobs happens (to me at least) when you go from being in a very brightly lit room to there being no light at all. It's quite rare, but that's the trigger.

Ooooooh! That stuff? Yea I've noticed the black dot before while rubbing my eyes, why does the circle get smaller as you move in? The fact that you can see it even with your eyes shut weirds me out haha. I'm pretty sure that I've noticed the light-to-dark version before. Mine is more blue, and not very intense at all (I just tried staring through my window with wide eyes and then covering up). What I definitely get is the seeing-stars phosphene, my blood pressure is low as shit and whenever I stand up fast I basically topple right back over when everything goes black and white haha

Man, how do you know all this stuff??? I'm reading about it now but... how do you even hear about it in the first place? lol

Originally Posted by Shift

Ooooooh! That stuff? Yea I've noticed the black dot before while rubbing my eyes, why does the circle get smaller as you move in? The fact that you can see it even with your eyes shut weirds me out haha. I'm pretty sure that I've noticed the light-to-dark version before. Mine is more blue, and not very intense at all (I just tried staring through my window with wide eyes and then covering up).

Man, how do you know all this stuff??? I'm reading about it now but... how do you even hear about it in the first place? lol

I was on wikipedia reading some article about eyes, and I ended up on the phosphene page. I read wikipedia for fun sometimes.

Originally Posted by drewmandan

I was on wikipedia reading some article about eyes, and I ended up on the phosphene page. I read wikipedia for fun sometimes.

Hmm, I do the same pretty often (not so often now that I'm back in school though). Still, I only seem to come across boring things. I always try to take classes where I will learn about things like this, interesting things but... they always seem to fall short I guess you've just gotta keep reading on your own! At least wiki links you to related topics, that is such a cool feature