When you just wake up, your eyes are tired, or when a foreign body enters your eyes, you may involuntarily rub it with your hands, and some strange patterns will appear in front of your eyes, and when others close their eyes in the dark, they will also see many patterns dancing, such as:
These patterns move and change uncontrollably randomly, without regularity or repetition, and imaginative people associate these patterns with different flora and fauna.
Why do you see these patterns without opening your eyes? Does rubbing cause damage to the eyeballs? What should I do if my eyes are uncomfortable? "Life Times" (search for "LT0385" in WeChat to follow) interviews experts to answer your questions one by one.
Experts interviewed
Duan Wenjing, chief physician of the Department of Ophthalmology of Beijing Dianli Hospital
Director of Ophthalmology of the Capital Institute of Pediatrics Yang Suhong
Liu Xuan, deputy chief physician of the Department of Ophthalmology of Beijing Tsinghua Changgeng Hospital
"Light Illusion" allows you to see strange patterns
The phenomenon of light can also be felt without light entering the eye, which is known in medicine as "light hallucination". It comes in several different forms, the most common of which is the eye pressure flash, which is the pressure applied to the eyeball in the closed eye state, resulting in a pressured vision.
Inside the eyeball there are neurons called retinal ganglion cells, which are responsible for receiving visual information from photoreceptor cells on the retina, which is the inner membrane of the eyeball wall.
When light enters the eye, it stimulates these neurons, and the received signal is converted into "electronic pulses", which are processed by the brain to form the image we see.
Rubbing their eyes creates pressure on cells inside the retina, but they can't distinguish the type of stimulus, and this way of applying pressure sends them a "false" signal, causing them to "wake up" in a way similar to light activation. At this time, the central nervous system will also receive light as if it were receiving light, causing patterns to appear in front of the eyes.
In addition to rubbing the eyes, opening the eyes too hard, sneezing or coughing, and being hit on the head will also cause some people to have a "light hallucination" reaction.
Rubbing causes 6 damage to the eyes
Although light hallucinations are normal phenomena and do not harm the body, the inconspicuous action of rubbing the eyes can adversely affect the eyes.
Causes infection
When you rub your eyes with unclean hands, you can come into contact with more bacteria, viruses, and even allergens, which can lead to infectious or allergic conjunctivitis.
Stye, also known as needle eye, is a bacterium-induced blepharitis.
Destroys the cornea
Iron particles, sand and other foreign bodies enter the eye, at this time rubbing the eyes will aggravate the movement and friction of foreign bodies on the eye surface, resulting in corneal epithelial damage, shedding, corneal ulcers, conjunctival lacerations and so on.
Causes astigmatism
Rubbing the eyes will produce a mechanical force on the cornea of the cornea, causing changes in the curvature of the cornea, which will cause astigmatism in the long term; especially in patients with keratoconus disease, rubbing the eyes will cause the perforation of the cone.
Aggravates glaucoma
Glaucoma is caused by the accumulation of fluid in the eye, which can damage the optic nerve and eventually lead to blindness. Rubbing your eyes disrupts the return of blood, which can lead to nerve damage and permanent vision loss.
Causes dark circles
Rubbing the eyes vigorously may cause the rupture of the tiny blood vessels in the eye, causing the eyes to become congested and blood to flow to the surrounding tissues, leading to the formation of dark circles.
Relax the eyelids
Rubbing your eyes not only hurts your eyeballs, but also causes your eyelids to lose their elasticity over time.
What does the rubbing action make the eyeball look like? The following video is used by an MRI instrument to give you a more intuitive view of the eye "deformation" process.
What should I do if I have 5 types of eye discomfort?
Many people know that rubbing their eyes is not good, but they do not know how to alleviate the discomfort in their eyes. The following 5 types of discomfort have their own ways to cope.
Dry
Dry eyes may be eye fatigue or dry eye, dry eye disease is also known as dry corneal conjunctival syrupine, in addition to dryness, easy fatigue, but also accompanied by itchy eyes, foreign body sensation, burning sensation, secretions, and even photophobia and sensitivity to external stimuli and other symptoms.
To improve eye habits and environment, eye drops can be used to moisturize the eyes, such as artificial tears without preservatives, if the symptoms are more serious, it is recommended to follow the doctor's advice.
pain
If there is pain, excluding the case of excessive use of the eyes, it may be caused by some diseases, such as stye, glaucoma, keratitis, optic neuritis, etc., at this time, it is necessary to go to the ophthalmology in time to avoid delaying the disease.
itch
In addition to infections, allergies can also make the eyes itchy, and the symptoms of the two are similar and sometimes difficult to distinguish. When symptoms such as itchy eyes, conjunctival hyperemia, and increased eye secretions occur, whether it is caused by allergies should be ruled out, and the allergen should be removed or avoided first, and treatment should be carried out.
Blurred vision
If you can't see clearly, you need to go to the hospital to check whether it is an eye disease (conjunctivitis, eye infection, cataracts, macular degeneration, etc.) or an eye disease caused by other diseases (diabetes, hyperglycemia, hypertension, etc.).
The degree and method of visual blurring of the six eye diseases are different, and the following figure can be used to preliminarily determine what problems there are in the eye.
Foreign bodies enter the eye
After the foreign body enters the eye, rubbing will cause the foreign body to move and rub on the surface of the eyeball, resulting in conjunctival damage or corneal abrasions, causing corneal epithelium to fall off, and even leading to the exposure of superficial corneal nerves. Foreign bodies that cannot be excreted on their own should be treated immediately.
Do not rub mosquitoes into the eyes, otherwise it will cause the worms and mosquitoes to rupture and cause eye inflammation, which is more dangerous if the insects have sharp body spines. At this time, it can stimulate the secretion of tear fluid to flush out the worm, or turn the upper and lower eyelids open and rinse with water. Regardless of whether it is removed or not, it is necessary to go to the hospital to check for foreign body residue and damage.
Foreign bodies that may cause chemical damage, such as 502, acids and alkalis, pesticides, etc., should be rinsed immediately with a lot of water, and the eyeball should be rotated during the flushing, preferably flipping the upper eyelid. After rinsing, rush to the nearest hospital for treatment immediately.
Foreign bodies such as sand grains, cotton wool, hair, eyelashes and other foreign bodies enter the eyes, which may be stuck in the eyelids or dome conjunctiva when the eyeball is rotated, and it is recommended to go to the ophthalmologist to remove them with the help of a doctor.
Foreign bodies such as iron particles and chestnut thorns may be stuck to the cornea and need to be removed from the cornea under the treatment of an ophthalmologist.
There are also some foreign bodies that can cause great eye harm when they enter the eye, such as foreign bodies penetrating the cornea, penetrating the eyeball, and so on. Once the above eye trauma occurs, it is necessary to rush to the hospital ophthalmology department for symptomatic treatment. ▲
Editor: Wang Xiaoqing
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