Just rub your eyes a little and small white dots will immediately appear in them.
This phenomenon is typical for almost every person, but few people know why it happens.
Features of human vision
The back wall, called the retina, is a unique feature of the human eye. It contains special receptors - rods and cones, which take part in the perception of color.
Thanks to them, people are able to see all the colors of the world, which is more than 15 million shades of colors.
Light that hits the retina is converted into information and sent to the brain, which in turn translates the received data into a full-fledged color picture.
However, a person is able to see images received not only by external but also by internal influences. "Stars" in the eyes are a clear confirmation of this.
The secret of the appearance of "stars"
These bright, glowing figures running before the eyes are called phosphenes. They appear when the eyes are mechanically affected.
By pressing on them with our fingers, we touch those very rods and cones located on the retina; they transmit false information to the brain and create phantoms that are visible with both open and closed eyes.
Their patterns are very diverse, some may see shimmering and fast moving figures similar to a grid, while others, for example, see bright blue arrows and dots.
Most likely, this has something to do with the organization of cells in the visual system.
However, the appearance of "stars" is not characteristic of everyone. For example, people who have been blind since birth cannot see them.
But with sudden loss of vision, not all visual organs stop functioning, and therefore those who had vision and for some reason lost it are still able to occasionally observe this phenomenon.
Sometimes, if you quickly change your body position or stand up abruptly, you can also see flying dots.
This is due to the fact that the blood rushes to the head too quickly, and this leads to the stimulation of the visual centers. Also, "stars" can cause a strong blow to the head.
What danger do they pose?
Phosphenes themselves are harmless to humans, but if they suddenly appear without any external influence, this may be a signal of serious diseases.
For example, in cases of acute poisoning or internal bleeding, white figures can be observed.
If you notice this as early as possible and start special treatment, you can avoid terrible and unpleasant consequences. It is the body that very often tells a person when something is wrong.
How children see them
Children can easily cause the effect of phosphenes. This is because at an early age the child perceives such a phenomenon as something real, and he cannot yet distinguish the internal manifestation of the body from external environmental factors. Interestingly, this ability disappears over the years.
Earlier we reported about residents of the region who began to seek medical attention due to tick bites.
Expert: Elena Gutyro
