Positive Health Online

Visual snow is a transitory or persisting visual symptom where people see snow or television-like static in parts or the whole of their visual fields, 24/7 that is everywhere and in all lighting conditions. It is much like camera noise in low light conditions.

The severity or density of the ‘snow’ differs from one person to the next; in some circumstances, it can inhibit a person's daily life, making it difficult to read, see in detail and focus correctly. You can get a good idea from this link and perhaps can use the link to ascertain your exact scores in different lighting conditions.

http://visionsimulations.com/simulators/visual-snow

No cause for visual snow has been identified, and anecdotal reports point to a multitude of associated conditions, possibly rendering it a non-specific symptom. Insofar as sufferers of visual snow have undergone ophthalmic, neurological and psychiatric examinations, no systematic problems besides the visual snow have been identified and hence no treatment is available.

I came across such a patient and noted that she has a terrible neck problem, IBS  and TMJ dysfunction. We started treatment with little resolution of the symptoms in the early stages but her IBS started resolving. Gradually her neck started improving and the visual snow symptoms started abating a little. The patient did not see any improvement until she lost her dental appliance when she realized that her ‘Visual Snow’ deteriorated rapidly to the original state. On restarting the appliance the 'visual snow' symptoms again subsided slightly as before.

What could be the explanation?

Correcting the TMJ improves the neck muscles. Some deep muscles in the middle of the base of the head play an intimate role in proper eye function. The deepest layers of muscles (the sub occipital ‘star’) are crucial and have the highest number of stretch receptors. Their connection, from eye movements to coordination of the rest of the back musculature, is remarkable.

These muscles have been shown to have 36 muscle spindles/gram of muscle tissue. The gluteus maximus, by comparison, has 0.7 spindles/gram. That is a 50-fold difference.

To feel their connection to eye movements, put your hands up on either side of your head with your thumbs just under your skull at the back middle of the head. Try and feel past the superficial muscles to get to the deep ones under the occipital ridge.

Close your eyes and then turn your eyes to the right and left while your other fingers keep your head from moving. You will feel those little muscles changing tonus under your thumbs even though your head is not moving. These little primary muscles are responding to your eye movements.

Look up and down and you will feel other muscles within this set engage in a similar way. Try to move your eyes without these muscles moving and you will find that it is impossible. They are so fundamentally connected that any eye movement will produce a change in tonus in these sub occipitals.

It appears that the hearing and vision senses are intimately affected by the state of these deep sub occipital muscles. A disturbance in the muscle tone at the base of the mid occiput perhaps upsets the ocular and auditory pathways causing in some the effect perceived as 'Visual Snow'.

The picture also shows how the back spinal muscles are literally suspended from the areas controlled by the sub occipital muscles. We have repeatedly seen how correcting the Atlas vertebrae immediately corrects the asymmetric hips most people suffer from - also known as the short leg phenomenon.

The tension in these muscles is also the cause of most headaches and migraines.

The way these muscles interact with the eyes is exemplified by a falling cat which always lands on its feet.

When a cat finds itself in the air, it uses its eyes and inner ear to orient its head horizontally. This puts certain tensions into these sub occipital muscles, which the brain ‘reads’ from the stretch receptors. Based on this reading the brain ‘unwinds’ the spinal muscles to organize the entire spine from the neck down, so that the cat's feet are under it before it ever hits the carpet.

Apart from improving the TMJ dysfunction and bringing about Cranio-dental symmetry to resolve the tension in the sub occipital muscles it is also advantageous to have a little bit of daily sub occipital release which can easily be accomplished by visiting an alternative practitioner.

This video is a good example of how to accomplish this release.

A patient wrote on the internet

“I've had visual snow for as long as I can remember............  I only occasionally get tinnitus; not ringing but more like I'm a mile away from a rock show.  Sometimes I still look around wondering "Where is that music coming from?!" only to realize I'm the only one vaguely hearing it.... I was studying massage therapy and was getting a head / neck massage from one of the 2nd year students.  She worked on the muscles in my neck then did a sub-occipital release.  Your sub-occipital muscles are literally the muscles that move your eyes, and ‘releasing’ them is just literally stretching them out causing them to relax. 

“I don't know if it worked right away.  However, I do remember going outside to catch the bus home.  It was night... and I just looked around, totally amazed.  No snow in the darkness!  The headlights of the cars and the street lights didn't have monstrous halos!”

Another patient replies

"I am suffering with muscle tension every day and I do get that feeling like when you hold your breath and try to make your head red (pressure type feeling) that is actually just caused by blood that isn't flowing through enough... 

I suffer from very heavy VS.  Can't go outside to do anything anymore without getting back with a headache that lasts for days! all I can do is relax at home...it started with pain in my neck my VS increased like  80%."

Another comment by a reader

I saw an ophthalmologist a year or so ago who had spent 5 years researching visual disturbances. He said he'd met people who had similar problems to me with the things moving when they're not, jumping vision, colours not being right, flashing, blind spots, halos, strobes and bright colours when you've got your eyes shut. Anyway he said they'd never found a cause but noted the similarity in other apparent symptoms and patient history, for example previous head injury, non-binocular vision, fatigue, IBS, dizziness, tinnitus and headaches.

What does this all mean?

What I deduce from extensive studies and experience with just one patient is that 'Visual Snow' is not an isolated symptom. It is part of a broader picture where patients suffer from a host of other symptoms like neck pain, fatigue, IBS, ear problems and headaches all caused by bodily asymmetries. It appears that the neck in these patients is more seriously damaged through injury and/or Cranio dental dysfunction.  All these accompanying symptoms are very amenable to treatment. It should therefore be possible to bring about a resolution of 'Visual Snow' symptoms. If I had sufficient patients I could probably get results very fast in a small percentage instead of 'No cure' at present for this condition.

13th February 2021

Here is a graph of the symptoms presented by 59 of our ‘Visual Snow' patients who completed our questionnaire over some 10 years.

This graph confirms my original contention that there is more to this ‘VS’ symptom and it cannot possibly be treated in isolation as can many other symptoms listed in the graph.

All these accompanying symptoms are very amenable to symmetry treatment. It should, therefore, be possible to bring about a resolution of 'Visual Snow' symptoms.

24th August 2018

Google review:

Alan Faulconbridge

Before visiting Dr Amir, I had experienced terrible migraine and migraine visual aura along with a rare unknown condition known as visual snow syndrome. After finding out that my jaw was not correctly aligned and was causing lots of tension around my neck muscles I decided to undergo Amir's treatment. After a few weeks into treatment with a removable brace, the migraines and visual aura associated with migraine stopped completely. The visual snow and its symptoms also reduced around 50% - 70% over time and while it's still there to some minor degree, its minor enough for my brain to ignore it and forget its presence. I fully recommend visiting Dr Amir as his treatment approach is unique unlike any other.

January 2020: Alan reports that he has very slight symptoms of 'Visual Snow' left which he can easily ignore. He has also recovered completely from his migraines.

Further Information

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