{"id":609,"date":"2024-11-14T18:30:35","date_gmt":"2024-11-14T18:30:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/visualstressclinic.ca\/?page_id=609"},"modified":"2026-01-21T01:34:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T01:34:13","slug":"visual-snow","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/opticalm.ca\/fr\/visual-snow\/","title":{"rendered":"Neige visuelle"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Visual snow<\/span><\/h2>\n

Visual snow refers to the persistent visual experience of flickering fine achromatic dots in the whole visual field of both eyes likened to \u2018\u2018static analogue television noise.\u201d Symptoms are strongly associated with palinopsia, the persistence of previously viewed stimuli and migraine, and the condition is often misdiagnosed. [1<\/a>]<\/span><\/p>\n

Visual Stress is a visual sensory processing disorder that is characterized by symptoms of visual perceptual distortions and eyestrain when viewing patterned images, such as text and individually prescribed precision coloured filters alleviate symptoms. [2<\/a>] Common symptoms include blurring, doubling, and the appearance of movement, flickering and colour in the visual field. Visual Stress is often associated with migraines and is also frequently misdiagnosed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Research into visual snow by a team of ophthalmologists in Australia reported that colour filters, identified using an Intuitive Colorimeter device, subjectively reduced symptoms of visual snow. The paper also refers to evidence that visual snow can be linked to other disorders of visual and sensory processing such as migraines. They concluded that \u201cthe colour filters may alter the visual processing that helps regulate the electroencephalographic (EEG) overactivity and lead to the reduction of symptoms.\u201d [1<\/a>]<\/span><\/p>\n

Research into Visual Stress using QEEG, fMRI and other brain scanning techniques, has demonstrated that Visual Stress is associated to migraines, and that individually selected colour filters, using the Intuitive Colorimeter device, reduce the hyperBOLD response in migraine. [3<\/a>]<\/span><\/p>\n

The Australian paper also notes that visual snow frequently occurs with palinopsia, the persistence of previously viewed stimuli. [1<\/a>] During our Visual Stress assessment, when asked to view a patterned target image and then to look away, the perceptual distortions caused by the patterned image often transfer to the next image. This effect can be removed when clients wear their precision tinted combination trial lenses identified with the Intuitive Colorimeter device.<\/span><\/p>\n

The overlapping symptomology between individuals with visual snow, migraine and Visual Stress, and their similar increased sensitivity to sensory perception would seem to indicate that it is important to rule out and treat Visual Stress if it is a contributor to symptoms. In the following examples, clients were diagnosed with visual snow by their neurologist or ophthalmologist. They were referred to us for a Visual Stress assessment to determine if precision tinted lenses would relieve some of their perceptual distortions and associated discomfort. The assessments yielded different results for these clients.<\/span><\/p>\n

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