I posted on Nov 19, 2017: https://
www.medhelp.org/posts/Eye-Care/For-those-with-the-bright-spot-when-blinking-symptom/show/437885?page=63
Most people have the following symptoms:
* bright spot(s) in one of the eye(s)
* fades over days to match colour of background
* though brighter on dark background
* darker on bright background
* and which is much more easily seen when it passes over a high contrast edge or when blinking or quickly waving finger in front of eye.
* scotomas usually shrink in the first couple of weeks and either disappear entirely or if they remain then do not change after this initial 2 week period.
* most scotoma appear and disappear entirely in seconds, minutes, hours, days. A much smaller number remain permanently.
* if a scotoma is first observed upon waking, then it is more likely to be remain and become permanent.
Anecdotal (I think only I have reported this so far):
* have observed scotomas are larger towards the periphery of their vision.
* have on at least two occasions, quickly (violently?) moved eyes to extreme to look to side or behind me and instantly (within a second) observed a bright scotoma that then fades very quickly.
Most people posting here report find the following:
* bending over will help a scotoma that's recently appeared to return to normal vision.
* bending over will not help resolve a spot that's appeared a while ago (usually those first observed upon waking).
My current hypothesis:
(though some people clearly have other conditions such as migraine with aura)
Excessive muscle tension in the muscles for moving the eye (https://www.aapos.org/terms/conditions/22) results in compression of the optic nerve by the annulus of Zinn (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annulus_of_Zinn). This results in temporary collapse/constriction of blood vessels.
This would match with:
* bending down resolving recent scotomas (due to increases blood pressure in the head aiding the blood vessels to open)
* bending down not resolving older scotomas including those first observed upon waking (due to the nerves being permanent damaged / dead)
* correcting posture, relaxing and bending down making it less likely (due to decreased constriction of optic nerve and it's blood supply from releasing some muscle tension in back, neck, scalp, face and eyes)
* stress making it more likely (due perhaps to increased muscles tension, and secondarily from dehydration, tiredness)
* desk work and modern life style (due directly to eye strain and it's associated muscle tension and from bad posture)
This would match with anecdotal evidence:
* scotomas increasing in size towards periphery of vision (due to data compression meaning that a blood vessel near edge of optic nerve would affect a large area of vision near periphery vs one nearer the centre only affecting a smaller area of vision).
* moving eyes quickly (due to bending of optic nerve and reduction in blood supply as it is pushed against annulus of Zinn / some other structure).
Not sure how:
* illness makes it more likely (due to ?? )
* exercise makes it more likely (due to ? dehydration, ? lower blood oxygen so if there was a shortage in your optic nerve it's now "pushed over the edge", tiredness of muscles resulting in poor posture such as crooked neck.)
Test this theory yourself:
DO THIS WITH CAUTION - MAY RESULT IN PERMANENT BLINDNESS
Try to tense the eye muscles by looking as far left / right / up / down as you can.
To get decrease blood pressure then stand up whilst you are doing this.
To get extra tension you can move your head slightly in opposite direction to the one you are looking.
When I am experiencing many temporary (a few seconds) scotomas, if I hold that position, within a few seconds I start seeing many more scotomas appearing and staying. Upon releasing the tension the scotomas resolve. On one occasion I had to aid it resolving by bending down. DO NOT MAINTAIN THIS POSITION FOR LONGER THAN A FEW SECONDS - MAY RESULT IN PERMANENT BLINDNESS.
Problems with theory:
I personally feel the tension around my eyes but also below them in my face... which does not fit directly with the annulus of Zinn theory unless there are longer range muscles / tendons / face structures that result in reducing blood supply to optic nerve / retina.
I'm very happy to say that although I have about 10 permanent (monocular) scotomas that my incident of permanent and temporary scotomas has decreased a lot. Over the few months, per day I see between 0 to 1000 temporary, lasting from 1 to 30 seconds. This is down from a max of 10 per second (or about 800,000 per day if you do that math).
I haven't changed diet, I haven't drunk less, I'm exercising about the same amount, I'm about as stressed, I get about as many colds etc, I'm as hydrated, I'm not taking any medication.
I am however a lot more aware of tension in and around my eyes (and the rest of my body).
I am more able to relax my face and eye muscles.
I am more aware of posture and correct posture can significantly aid relaxing.
I always try to relax before getting into bed, and whilst in bed, make my head angled slightly more towards my chest as this feels like it releases tension in my face around my eyes.
I am much more relaxed and content about going blind.
I aim to set up a small scale clinical trial in 2019 to measure with much high resolution, the electrical performance of the optic nerve and retina. I already have a proof of concept. I will post back here with an invitation of those in or who can get to London (UK) to join. Or feel free to message me via this site in the mean time.