It is usually black and white but can also appear as flashing, colored, or even transparent.
For years, visual snow syndrome was thought to be aform of migraine.
However, it is now recognized as a visual processing problem unrelated to headaches.
Verywell / Emily Roberts
There are no tests for visual snow syndrome.
It is diagnosed based on symptom history and ruling out other causes.
It is treated with tinted glasses, adaptive strategies, and sometimes medication.
Noel Hendrickson / Getty Images
This article discusses visual snow syndrome and its symptoms, causes, and diagnosis.
It also explains the treatment options for visual snow syndrome.
How Common Is Visual Snow Syndrome?
Verywell / Emily Roberts
What Are the Symptoms of Visual Snow Syndrome?
Visual Symptoms
The snow in your visual field isn’t the only symptom of this condition.
Symptoms that are not vision-related include:
What Are the Causes of Visual Snow Syndrome?
Scientists don’t know for sure what causes visual snow syndrome.
It feels like a complex neurological disorder.
Studies have shown that people with this syndrome have a brain abnormality in theirlingual gyrus.
This is a structure in theoccipitallobe, which is located in the back of the brain.
The nerve cells in the brains of people with visual snow syndrome may be too responsive to visual stimuli.
These very sensitive nerve cells mistakenly send signals to the brain.
The brain interprets them as real images.
Migraines have also been shown to exacerbate visual snow symptoms.
How Is Visual Snow Syndrome Diagnosed?
There are no specific tests that can diagnose visual snow syndrome.
This may involve seeing aneurologist, anophthalmologist, and apsychologist.
Common misdiagnoses include:
Most people with visual snow syndrome, however, have no history of drug abuse.
Their symptoms also don’t get better with standard migraine treatment.
Today, healthcare providers know more about visual snow syndrome and are better at spotting it.
If you think you have the condition but were diagnosed with something else, consider getting a second opinion.
How Is Visual Snow Syndrome Treated?
Pain medication, anti-epileptics, and migraine prophylaxis are sometimes helpful for treating visual snow.
For example, the research found theanti-seizure medicationLamictal was most effective in treating visual snow.
Another possible treatment is repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation 410 (TMS).
A technique used to treat Alzheimer’s and migraines, TMS uses magnetic pulses applied to the brain.
However, its effectiveness in treating visual snow syndrome is still unclear.
Visual snow is often problematic when reading.
Tips for making reading easier include:
Tinted lenses may also be helpful.
Summary
Visual snow syndrome is uncommon.
People with this syndrome see small dots like snow or static in their field of vision.
Researchers think the syndrome may be resulting from an abnormality in part of the brain.
In the past, people with this syndrome were often misdiagnosed with migraines or other disorders.
If you think you’ve been misdiagnosed, get a second opinion.
Healthcare providers don’t yet know how to treat visual snow syndrome.
Anti-seizure medication and antidepressants have worked for some patients.
However, more research is needed.
Their average age was 29 at the time of the study.
It can be associated with anxiety, but that doesn’t appear to be the case in all people.
That said, treatment is available for underlying causes, if present.
Your healthcare provider can help you to understand what may help in your specific case.
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