Talk:Blue field entoptic phenomenon

Illustration?

This is a visual effect that is hard to describe in words. Could we include a snapshot from a simulation such as http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/2530/bluefieldentoptic.gif or the actual simulation? I guess it is an animated gif. Having a picture like this would help a lot!

I'll try to make an animated gif showing the phenomenon. The one you linked is good but dots are too big and very few compared to the real phenomenon. Hope I can contribute whith a fresh simulation in the next couple of weeks. Unmismoobjetivo (talk) 03:20, 11 June 2013 (UTC)

The Exploratorium in SF had a blue screen that let you see the effect easily. It is now gone, reportedly because the blue light bulb is very expensive. — Preceding unsigned comment added by GoodExplainer (talk • contribs) 17:06, 2 February 2011 (UTC)

Cure?

Is there a cure?

There is no cure because it isn’t a disease; it's perfectly normal, everybody has it. AxelBoldt 19:39, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

Is there something wrong with you if you don’t have it (have never noticed it)? 128.122.253.212 21:37, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

No. There’s a definite "trick" to seeing it. It's not like a fireworks display or shooting stars or anything like that. It’s very gentle, subtle, and hardly interferes with vision at all. For me, it’s harder to see than floaters, but easier to see than Haidinger's brush.

To see it, it really helps to have a good "blue field." The sky isn’t blue enough. And the field you're looking at has to be nice and smooth and featureless, because if it has any texture to it you tend to pay attention to that and miss the effect. Plus, there are no blood vessels in the fovea, so you never see this effect at the place where you’re looking, you only see it off to the side in indirect vision.

Probably most people never see it or notice it at all. Dpbsmith (talk) 13:32, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

I'm skuuured. 81.132.234.108 11:25, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Plagiarized?

I found this same information here, exactly word for word: http://www.migraine-aura.org/content/e27891/e27265/e42285/e42442/e54887/index_en.html —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.133.166.73 (talk) 02:22, 19 May 2008 (UTC)

Yes, that site plagiarized our content. AxelBoldt (talk) 14:54, 21 May 2008 (UTC)

How to?

I've never seen this, but I'm intrigued. Can you give instructions on how to see this phenomenon. I tried looking at a blue computer screen, but don't see anything obvious. Thanks! Aaadddaaammm (talk) 08:13, 14 May 2009 (UTC)

The background should be bright, like a bright sky; a computer screen is not bright enough. In my experience the moving dots appear by just staring into the bright sky for more than half a minute. In my experience the sky does not have to be blue, a bright white sky is just as fine. Ceinturion (talk) 08:13, 15 May 2009 (UTC)

Try to look as far as you can. You can try to train to focus your sight any way you want with stereograms. Once you can focus and take out focus with your eyes, you just have to take out focus (as if you were looking very far) while looking at a bright blue sky. If you have been swimming in the sea, you won't only see the white cells, you may see even more dots moving even faster, probably because you have some more life in your eye that came from the water. I just tried it yesterday at the beach. 81.34.33.252 (talk) 13:11, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

Hmm, in my experience focusing/defocusing has no effect on seeing the moving dots in the sky. For example, I see the moving dots in the blue sky just as easily after removing my glasses (-5 diopters). Swimming in sea has no effect either: a thin film of seawater on the cornea makes no difference. Ceinturion (talk) 21:23, 21 July 2009 (UTC)

I don't know if it's the blue field or random phosphenes, but rubbing my eyes and looking at the sky while swimming in the ocean (pretty much everytime you get water in your eyes) produces bright colored dots that move in random patterns. Lime in the Coconut 13:21, 4 August 2010 (UTC)

Rubbing your eyes is unrelated to the blue field entoptic phenomenon; it causes 'pressure phosphenes'. Getting sea water in your eyes has nothing to do with the blue field entoptic phenomenon. A Wikipedia Talk page is not a discussion forum. A better place to discuss sea water in your eyes is a discussion group like sci.med.vision. Ceinturion (talk) 22:49, 4 August 2010 (UTC)

Looking at a light blue sky I wanted to know how I am focusing when I see the blue field enthopic phenomenon and I put my hand at 1 inch of my eyes. Between the fingers the dots are perfectly focused and my hand is out of focus. Tried at one feet: when dots focused, hand apears double and out of focus. The right distance is about 3 feet. Use hand to focus but try not to pay attention to it just concentrate on the blue field. The dots are very small, you will be able to see about 100 at the same time. Unmismoobjetivo (talk) 02:52, 11 June 2013 (UTC)

The planet Venus, at its elongations, is visible in the day sky. (It is easiest to find when it is in lunar conjunction.) When I look for Venus in the day sky, I usually see the blue-field entoptic phenomenon. MrTetragon (talk) 14:57, 20 December 2018 (UTC)

Phenomenon does not appear when walking into a dark room

Jay yok may, please do not add your personal opinion that the blue field entoptic phenomenon is an after image that appears when walking into a dark room, unless you provide a reference for that claim. I removed your opinion because it contradicts the existing references in the article. 1, 2 Ceinturion (talk) 00:02, 11 December 2010 (UTC)

Picture

Ask on: http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/z9sow/a_photograph_of_the_floaty_things_in_your_eyes — Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.13.134.66 (talk) 21:35, 4 September 2012 (UTC)

That reddit picture of an orb in the air is unrelated to the blue field entoptic phenomenon. Nothing for this Talk page. Elevant (talk) 14:13, 5 September 2012 (UTC)

Is this what I experienced?

I experienced something a lot like this phenomenon earlier, but a little different. Instead of bright white dots, I saw isolated, multicolored rod-like images moving around everywhere, constantly changing color. They appeared when I turned my head and disappeared after five seconds or so. I wasn't looking at a featureless background though; there were lots of things in my vision, like my blue bed, white wall, tan desk, black laptop, etc. But is this still what I experienced, or did I experience something different? 129.15.127.126 (talk) 19:19, 26 October 2013 (UTC)

What you saw was not the blue field entoptic phenomenon, because of the colors and the different situation. A better place to discuss your visual experience is a discussion group like sci.med.vision. This Wikipedia Talk page is about the article, not about individual experiences. Ceinturion (talk) 20:25, 26 October 2013 (UTC)

I also experience something like that from time to time. I actually checked the talk page to see mentions of this. I think it is related to low blood pressure in my case, because it usually happens when standing up after sitting for a long time. I agree, that this may not be the right place to discuss experiences, but identifying this phenomenon would be a useful addition to this article's "Difference from other entoptic phenomena" section. Kinaro7 (talk) 15:44, 11 January 2017 (UTC)

it s energy stupids — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.121.30.15 (talk) 19:14, 8 December 2013 (UTC)

ah thank you. 146.229.200.111 (talk) 19:21, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

1000x more visitors

According to stat.grok.se, this page was viewed a 1000 times more often than usual, on december 8th (300,000 instead of 200). Which event at that date might have caused so many people to visit this page? Ceinturion (talk) 22:24, 14 December 2013 (UTC)

Is there any research exploring this phenomenon and atmospheric barometric pressure?

I have been curious if there have been any studies linking the intensity of this phenomenon to barometric pressure. Reason why I ask is that I've noticed that looking for this phenomenon seems to have a bit of a link. I understand that this is an anecdotal account but I've been exploring it and I have wondered if it could be linked to the pressure in the air leading to the capilaries being expanded so as to allow the phenomenon to appear to move slightly faster leading to an increase of their frequency and speed and as such their noticeability being stronger or more prominent. Mainly low-pressure systems so when the weather is turning to precipitation, it could be feasible to suggest that if there is a link the eyes could, if one trains themselves to differentiate between the two main pressure states could lead to the eyes being a sort of (weak) barometer. 173.206.18.29 (talk) 00:53, 21 April 2014 (UTC)

Seen from an airplane window?

I am wondering if the BFEP is what I see when I look at white clouds from an airplane window. I don't see these moving speckles anywhere else. Does anyone have any ideas about this? 95.172.233.137 (talk) 20:52, 10 April 2018 (UTC)

Why not simply check the criteria yourself, as nobody else has access to your eyes in the airplane: do your moving speckles appear like tiny bright dots moving quickly along squiggly lines in the visual field? Are the dots short-lived, visible for a second or less, and traveling short distances along seemingly random, curvy paths? Do some of them follow the same path as predecessors? Are some of the dots elongated along the path like tiny worms? Does the speed of the dots vary in sync with the pulse; do they briefly accelerate at each heart beat? Do the dots appear in the central field of view, within 15 degrees from the fixation point? Ceinturion (talk) 20:33, 11 April 2018 (UTC)

Is this pnenomenon entirely benign?

Do any sources describe this disturbance as affecting people in daily life? I'm thinking of fighter pilots and the like.-- Quisqualis (talk) 18:46, 6 April 2023 (UTC)

Explanation section

Can someone check the sources on the explanation section? Blood vessels are behind the retina, so a white blood cell cannot distort light headed to the retina. There is no immune system in the eye. I was under the impression that this phenomenon was caused by clumped together protiens in the fluid in the eye. It also doesnt explain why its more common in older individuals, who have weaker immune systems. 2603:7081:5205:B529:5415:DAFD:D471:3A54 (talk) 22:12, 1 April 2024 (UTC)

There are two sources of blood supply to the retina: the central retinal artery in front of the retina, and the choroid behind the retina. The blue field entoptic phenomenon (BFEP) is due to blood flowing through the branches of the retinal artery, in front of the retina. The choroid, which you seem to be referring to, is not involved in the BFEP. Do not confuse the BFEP with floaters. Clumped proteins in the vitreous are floaters. Moretim (talk) 10:11, 20 April 2024 (UTC)