Category: Health and Wellness
ok i know some people who are blind and their eyes move around all the time. like they'll face different directions, spin around lol, move one way then the next really fast. it's like there's no control over their eye movement. why does this happen? i'm just curious. is there anything they could do to make it stop or is it just the way it is? curious. You guys know what i'm talking about i hope. lol
hey, my first try didn't post.
Well, sighted people have something for their eyes to lock onto and fix upon. But with blindness, there's just a field of nothingness, so what do your eyes have to fix onto?
When I have my eye pressure checked, I have to work hard to keep my eyes still. I imagine something in my mind's eye, place it in the room, and try to stare at it.
Does that help?
Same here; when I have my eye pressure checked, I really have to concentrate to keep my eyes perfectly still. Mine don't move around a whole lot, but they do occasionally.
I have very little muscle control in my one eye. When I was a child, they actually had to numb the eye so they could examine it properly. I am sometimes aware of the eye movement, but really can't control it no matter what I do or think.
Lou
I've been told my eyes shake a lot when I look at light; I think an ophthalmologist once referred to that as mistagmus. sorry if Imisspelled that.
Ok. Lets staroff buy saying, i was not blind all my life and stil am not totaly blind yet but i probbly will be with in hmmm, a few months and then i might not be. They don't know and neither do i. Backround on me before i tell you what i think it is. I was born premature as was most of us i've noticed. I was put on oxogyen for a long time and that caused glacoma. now, i also have ROP. I had lots of sight up until last summer. Last summer i started losing it gradually and then it started gong more rapid pressure went up and so did the god awefull pain... wont even try to find words to describe that. but, wanyways, when i had thought there was no hope and i was stuck with full light perseption in my right and bearly anything in my left, I had went for an appointment and they had told me there was a little bit of a chance for getting my right retna reattached. not completely to how it was before but just enough to where at the tie of posting from the office desk at school, i can read what i'm writing and see if people are walking passed like there is someone doing as i write... wanyways, its not to clear. i mean, its clar but not as good as i use to have it. i can make out who they are and what i'm writing/reading if i focus entirely on it. This si only with my right eye. my left eye i bearly has muscle movement. its hard to move it left, right, up or, down. no hope for it says me and my doctor. now, i said all fo that to give you backround and give you the situation. when i was with nothing acept for light perseption in my right eye and nothing in my left my eyes did do the envoluntary moving around. not to much but they did. Its because of when you are blind, completely, and just have light perseption, the light is all you've got to focus on. its everyware unless you've got a flashlight. thats y they use them to sometimes to get you to look over to where they want you to. when i did get my sight to come back a little bit from what they'd done i did notice that my right eye as i would focus on stuff and as i do now, i'm doing it yes to make sure i'm not lying lol im dumb. but yeah... when you do focus you do keep your eyes stil. witch ever one is focusing is the one you will keep stil and have control over. your brain wants to automatically try it with both eyes if youve got enough muscle movement you can do it with out knwing of course cause you can't see. but, if you don't your screwed. so yeah. its all on focus. and if peolle who read this who say, wtf. i didnt know that. its because i do not go around to the online people on my msn or skype lists saying my lifes story...
i'm done rambling now.
if you have any farhter questions you can say so and tell me so and write me on any messengers or feel free to call me on skype.
all of my contact information is listed in my profile.
thanks for reading all of my ungodly horrible writing skills.
see you later.
Nystagmus is often the first sign that a child has some form of eye condition. Nothing I have read so far indicates that it's related to focus or lack of ability to focus in the way sighted people do. It's actually very common in the early stages of many eye conditions such as retinitis pigmentosa and other retina based conditions which actually start with the patient having very good sight that later deteriorates. It's uncontrolable movement of the eyes making it very noticeable to parents and doctor's alike, so although a little odd to see, rather helpful I guess.
When I was young with vision, I could sit and look at strip lights on the ceiling and see them shake. lol
I can't speak for you lot but when my older son gets hold of my prosthetic eyes from the bath room they move around, all around the house in fact.
lol wildebrew. yeah so the shaking constant or the moving around a lot is a symptom of eye condisions and cuz there's nothing to focus on. mine don't move around much really but i have pain for sure, but i know people and it's like impossible for there eyes to stay still and not move around and shake and stuff. lol it is odd to watch, but i just wondered other then consentrating on something so it'll stop if they could like take something for it or something, lol dunno.
Speaking from my own personal experience, Blackbird is right on the money. This is a condition called Nystagmus, and it's not due to the fact that a person can't focus on something. I am not totally blind; I have very little sight, but I do have some, and the nystagmus pretty much makes it impossible for me to control the movement of my eyes. I can kind of purposely control them to a certain extent when I need to, but if I'm not trying to focus on something, they still move on their own accord, and I cannot stop it.
This really isn't something for people to laugh at. It's not funny. I remember as a child, other kids in school would make fun of me because of my eyes looking around everywhere. Even as an adult, I still have people, adults and children alike, ask me why my eyes do it. It may look weird, but it's not funny. Believe me, if those of us affected by this could control it, we would.
I do have Retinitis Pigmentosa, so that is why I do have this condition. Other than that, though, my eyes look perfectly normal. I have had many people tell me that, with a lot of blind people, you can usually tell that they are blind because of how their eyes look, but they tell me that I don't have that look.
So, although you may be interested in why this happens, please don't laugh or make fun of someone who has this condition.
Janelle, I actually did a little research before making my post, and like I said there is nothing I've read that talks of focus being a way to prevent it. There was a suggestion in some circumstances where medicine may be helpful, but I believe that's only recently and not well supported at this stage.
no i wasn't making fun of it, that's sort of dumb. just wasn't sure why and how and such this happens, but yeah guess it's its own thing and can't be stop. thanks you guys, just didn't know so thaught someone on here aught to know.
Yeah, I have nystagmus too. People used to make fun of me because of it, but I never understood why I did it. It's not something I have any control over. The eye doctors have a heck of a time looking in to my eyes because of how bad they shake and move, and I tried that mind's eye game and it didn't work for me. I actually find it to be uncomfortable at times and wish it would stop, but it won't. Kind of makes me wonder if in my case, the problem is actually muscle spasms due to my cerebral palsy, because the whole left side of my face sometimes twitches without me being able to stop it.
I am the same way having nystgamus. I also have ROP, and my visual perception is in the lower part of my right eye while I have light perception in my left. When I think I'm looking at my friends faces, I've been told that my eyes are actualy looking at the ceiling. This kinda puts monoculars out of the question for me, since I can not focus on that little magnifying piece inside it.
I havesepto-optic dysplasia, which means my optic nerve didn't develop. I only see light and shadows in the one eye, the other has none.
Both of the damn things have Nystagmus. I've been aware of the way mine move around while reading and posting here, and now they are not happy!
I find lots of lubrication sometimes can makea diference, for if you need to focus on something.
my eyes don't have any kind of movement, nor do I have any control over them, which makes it hard when I'm getting checked. But I have a friend whose eyes move around a lot, and he is totally blind, no light perception, nothing. He doesn't know why he does that, but I suppose it's like Kevin said, because he used to be able to see but that was when he was very young, and now he can't remember. He lost his vision due to a brain tumor. So I guess it's just something that happens, that symptom that was mentioned earlier. But I wonder if it's better for your eyes to move than for them not to, as mine are.
I have glocoma, but I was born blind. I can see lights, but that's it. my eyes also move, and I can't even tell sometimes. others, like when the doctor shines those lights in my eyes, I can feel them move up in to my head. I kinda feel bad for the doctor though, because he has to play chase with my eyes just to get a look at them. he keeps saying"look down." and I try, but the more I try to focus on looking where he needs me to, the faster they go the other way.
Yeah, I know how that is. I developed cataracts, and the doctor had to take measurements of my eyes, but it was so hard for me. To a certan extent, I can try to get them to go where they need to, but even if I do manage to get them there, it's hard to keep them in that spot. They want to move on their own accord, and I can't help that. It gets so frustrating.
my eyes don't move that much but if they tell me look up then they move to the left.
also, when mom tells me to open my eyes, i can't because its hard to open them, does anyone have that problem where its kind of hard to open your eyes even if you want to?
Definitely yes to the last post. It gets downright painful at times, because I'm light sensitive.
I wondered that myself, I knew a girl who was blind whose eyes didn't move at all, and sometimes others their eyes move all the time.
yah, my eyes wanna stay closed alot and even my neece goes, "why aren't your eyes open?" but it's hard to keep them open once they are open.
Well, my eyes don't move because I have prostetics. I used to have trouble keeping my eyes open. It was something I actually had to practice. I guess when you can't see anything, keeping your eyes open isn't as important, so you don't really think about it.
yes i have nastagnmus as well as my cancer. the cancer made me go blind the nastagnmus just makes my eyes move a lot..
well, the eyes moving thing, pluss the closed eyes and everything else is why I went for removal and as of tomorrow prostetics.
I wonder if they'll ever know. Certainly the reasons are many: I have agenesis of the optic nerve - no underdevelopment here, it just isn't. Consequently, the explanation I was given is the eyes are basically looking for light; my pupils tend to be large most of the time and my eyes wander. There is no way for me to control it. I caution any trainer type against bringing this stuff up, as it is not something that for sure can be helped. I can't feel it when it's happening, nor can I focus enough or whatever to change it. In the grand scheme of things it is a relatively small matter I believe.
What is Nystagmus?
Nystagmus refers to rapid involuntary movements that may cause one or both eyes to move from side to side, up and down or around in circles. The condition is caused by an abnormal function in the areas of the brain that control eye movements. Nystagmus may be either present at birth or develop later in life.
What are the symptoms?
Nystagmus leads to low vision and may even cause legal blindness. Symptoms include:
Blurred vision
Reduction in depth perception
Can it be treated?
In rare cases eye muscle surgery can be performed which reduces the extent of eye movement.
Vision can also be improved through null point training, where an eye care professional works with the person to train their eyes in the direction where vision is the clearest.
The use of a magnifier and other low vision aids may be useful for people with Nystagmus.
source: www.visionaustralia.org
I have nystagmus as well, and I know it's very hard to control the movement of my eyes. Most of the time I don't even feel it. I also have that problem too where it's hard to keep my eyes open. It seems almost an unnatural thing for them to do, not to mention I'm extremely light sensitive. I have light perception, and can see shadows, like if someone is standing in front of me I can tell whether they have dark or light clothing on or something, but I can't see colors. But not being able to keep my eyes open for a long time got me in trouble sometimes. I remember going to church with my aunt a couple times and she told me to open my eyes because it was rude of me, and it looked like I was sleeping in church.
i can't see light but at times i'm very sensitive to it
I can't feel my eyes moving either, it just happens. either they roal, or they close. someone actually asked me if I was sleep walking once when I was at the store with my mom. they just close and I don't realize it, I guess it's because I can't see.
Lol @#8. Yep, same thing here @#1 they shake it used to be real bad.
I am not aware of my eyes spinning around but they used to shift and I taught myself to control it somewhat.
My blindness is caused by retinopathy of prematurity. I was born four months early. I have never had vision, and before I had to have my eyes removed I had no control of when or where or how my eyes moved. I wonder if there is a difference between the movement of a real eye and a prosthetic eye? I know that prosthetic eyes have a smaller range of movement, and I know that my prosthetic eyes move and I have no control over when or where or how they move.
Kolby
i'm with you on that one. i was born 3 months premature in a developing country where medical equipment was very scarce. so the eye movement isn't something that can be fixed at this point.
hmmm. many of my friends said I look like a sighted and even many of them used to tease me as I'm acting as a blind for benefits.
I'm also joining the club of Retinitis Pigmentosa, and my eyes roles/flicker/move/rotates often. I do have light perception and can see bigger images.
if there's any solution for those unwanted movement, I think that'd be better. but it can be noticed only who they are closely watching me.
Raaj.