When I was little, I had no idea that the way I saw the world wasn’t seen by everyone. It wasn’t until I had a conversation with my father in which I commented on a TV fuzz over the vision. When my father shared that he didn’t know anyone who saw what I was seeing, I simply chalked it up to my own unique observation. However, as I got older, I began to do some research and discovered that what I was seeing had a name. Visual Snow. It was amazing because I only found one website focused on visual snow. It had a questionnaire for people with visual snow to fill out. Was it in color, black and white, or sepia? Were the dots small or large? It was something so newly recognized as real that the research was just taking off.
The Positives
Well, I have to say the positives probably are outweighed by the negatives. That being said, I do take pride being part of a very, very small percent of the world’s population. I get to see the world in a different way. Physical patterns pop out more naturally for me.
The Negatives
Like I said, the negatives outweigh the positives. I see the world in a unique way, but it’s constant. Visual snow doesn’t come and go. It’s there…always. Eyes opened or closed. Visual snow. Light or dark. Visual snow. Doesn’t matter the time of day. Doesn’t matter the stress level. This creates many struggles for me.
Story time. I took a photography class in community college. I enjoyed the class. I remember one day in particular. We were reviewing each other’s pictures to practice making observations and critiquing and what not. Someone, I think it was the professor, mentioned how clear the subject in the picture was. I knew what was being said. I could even somewhat see what he was talking about. Just not fully. My visual snow prevented me from experiencing the joy and amazement of seeing a clear picture. The crisp lines of the subject. The out of focus background. I can tell the difference because I know what a bad picture looks like with visual snow. The appreciation of a good picture isn’t fully there.
Can you imagine being in a museum, seeing painted works of art, and having a layer of TV snow/fuzz over that artwork? It’s absolutely frustrating. Aside from art, if text is too close together, or the colors of the page and text are the wrong combination, the visual snow makes it difficult to focus on the words. It pulsates between the words and the background.
Yes. I’m venting a bit. I’m also trying to make people aware of a struggle that a very small percent deal with. Others with visual snow may not have the exact same complaints, but I bet a lot of them have similar complaints. Sure. We can take pride in being able to see the world in a unique way. But all of us with visual snow, walk through life knowing that there is still no cure.
From what I understand, the part of the brain that causes visual snow is about one hundred neurons. Only one hundred. Last I read there wasn’t a scanner able to accurately take video or pictures of such a small area. If you can’t do that, chances are you can’t laser the cells away, or even diagnose and treat the condition.
One More Positive
Technology and medical innovations are always occurring. And with visual snow being recognized in the medical field, there is hope for a potential cure in the future. At the end of the day, to anyone who has visual snow syndrome(VSS), you are not alone. We are not alone.
