Eli5 why does pressing my palms against my eyes create a kaleidoscope effect?

1.68K views

Eli5 why does pressing my palms against my eyes create a kaleidoscope effect?

In: 3449

78 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Be careful doing this. I used to do it a lot cause I thought it was neat but let’s just say I’m the only one in my family to have almost flat corneas and horrible vision.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Be careful doing this. I used to do it a lot cause I thought it was neat but let’s just say I’m the only one in my family to have almost flat corneas and horrible vision.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Beware incorrect answers to this, ie ones that say it’s harmless. I worked in retinal ophtho for some years and was actually warned against doing this. A retinal specialist saw me rubbing my eyes at the nurse station and scolded me about how it’s applying pressure to my retina and optic nerve. That’s why you get the colors and patterns too – from mechanically applying force to these photo-receiving cells. And let me tell you from experience, the retina and optic nerve are about as delicate as our anatomy gets. So from then on, when I rub my eyes, I’ve only applied pressure to the orbital bone

Anonymous 0 Comments

Beware incorrect answers to this, ie ones that say it’s harmless. I worked in retinal ophtho for some years and was actually warned against doing this. A retinal specialist saw me rubbing my eyes at the nurse station and scolded me about how it’s applying pressure to my retina and optic nerve. That’s why you get the colors and patterns too – from mechanically applying force to these photo-receiving cells. And let me tell you from experience, the retina and optic nerve are about as delicate as our anatomy gets. So from then on, when I rub my eyes, I’ve only applied pressure to the orbital bone

Anonymous 0 Comments

O, am I the only one here who sees kaleidoscope/rainbow static all the time? Visual snow, anybody?

Anonymous 0 Comments

When I was little, nobody had told me this. I am/was kind of stupid.

I legit thought I had super powers and could see the future/unknown things. I was 7 or 8 and I would spend hours practicing my powers…I would take a card from a deck, push on my eyes until I thought I knew if it was red or black and I was convinced I was almost always right.

After lots of training, I showed my Dad. He called me stupid and told me to say the full card name. Of course I couldn’t.

Anonymous 0 Comments

When I was little, nobody had told me this. I am/was kind of stupid.

I legit thought I had super powers and could see the future/unknown things. I was 7 or 8 and I would spend hours practicing my powers…I would take a card from a deck, push on my eyes until I thought I knew if it was red or black and I was convinced I was almost always right.

After lots of training, I showed my Dad. He called me stupid and told me to say the full card name. Of course I couldn’t.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Be careful doing this. I used to do it a lot cause I thought it was neat but let’s just say I’m the only one in my family to have almost flat corneas and horrible vision.

Anonymous 0 Comments

O, am I the only one here who sees kaleidoscope/rainbow static all the time? Visual snow, anybody?

Anonymous 0 Comments

O, am I the only one here who sees kaleidoscope/rainbow static all the time? Visual snow, anybody?