Di13

Okay I finally found the name for it guys. I also found this snipit: The Entopic phenomenon or (Scheerer's phenomenon) is when you one can actually visualise blood flow through the retinal blood vessels. We all have the potential to see the blood flow but most of us are able to ignore this. Some people may become suddenly aware of this and this sudden awareness may lead to the idea that there is a problem with the eyes, when actually there is not. This moving dots effect are actually leukocytes, or white blood cells (WBC), which move along through the blood-filled capillaries. There are many capillaries on the retina which have the shape of a snake, a sine-wave, and when a leukocyte travels through that channel, it executes a sinusoidal "wiggle" motion. The capillaries are said to be normally invisible because they are full of hemocytes (red blood cells), and these hemocytes are too close to each other, and too far away from the retina to create individual moving shadows. Therefore, like the capillaries themselves, our retinas "edit" the blood cells out the view perceived by our brains. On the other hand, the leukocytes (White blood cells) are large, and they act like gaps in the columns of blood which fill the capillaries. These "moving holes" in the blood are made visible whenever we stare at a uniformly illuminated surface. The entopic phenomenon can be seen especially observed when looking at a bright blue sky. Small, rapid pin-point sparks of light can be seen darting about in the central vision. Some people may think that these sparks are floaters. In reality, they represent white blood cells moving through the blood capillaries of the retina. This is a normal finding, and actually may indicate normal retinal function. It is also called Blue field entopic phenomena too.. here is some more found info: The blue field entoptic phenomenon or Scheerer's phenomenon is the appearance of tiny bright dots moving quickly along squiggly lines in the visual field, especially when looking into blue light (such as the sky). These dots are due to the white blood cells that move in the capillaries in front of the retina of the eye, near the macula. The dots move somewhat in sync with the heart beat.

Wow I have never seen it with a black background that must be something amazing to see. I understand your frustration Clayton. Clayton are you referring to visual snow at all maybe?

I did read where one of those articles says the blood flows on specific pathways and we can see it if I watch the moving specks close enough. Shrug. I didn't write any of those articles as I do not have the education in the science of how our eyes work to write an educated article on the idea or theories - BUT I do know for what I personally am seeing - those articles make sense and what they describe is exactly how I see them. ) Mine do move to the side of my vision and do move in pathways and patterns. I also see them move faster when my heart rate is up and I didn't start seeing them until I read about it from someone else and *tried* to see them one day... wish I never did because since then my eyes feel it is something I want to see or focus on and I don't. I would love if anyone else could find info on it but I am confident in the answers I found being what I personally am experiencing. I think to sum it up - it more irritates me then makes me curious to see this. The more I ignore it and focus on other things, the more my eyes pay less attention and notice it less so hopefully within time (for me) my eyes will learn to just dismiss it completly. I wish you all luck in finding answers to what you are seeing! ) Di

OKay here is what it says on the link: This week's experiment is something that I first noticed as a child. You may have noticed it yourself. Part of the fun of science is taking something that you notice yourself and finding out what causes it. For this experiment, you will need: a clear, blue sky If you don't have a blue sky available, you can try using a sheet of blue paper. Other colors will work, but blue seems to work better. It works best of all with a blue sky, preferably while you are digging for fossils, bird watching, or other similar activities. Stare at the blue sky and let your eyes go a little out of focus. As you look at the sky, you will notice that you begin see tiny spots moving around. As you watch them, you should notice that they seem to be following pathways instead of just moving around randomly. The more you watch them, the easier it is to see these pathways and the patterns of their movement. What are you actually seeing? Are these UFO's? Some strange kind of bird migrations? No, the spots you are seeing are actually inside your eyes. You are seeing white blood cells moving through the blood vessels at the back of your eye. At the back of your eye is your retina. This contains the light sensitive cells that let you see. Tiny blood vessels bring nutrients and oxygen to the cells of the retina. Normally you don't see these vessels, but when you are staring at the blue sky there is nothing else for your eyes to focus on. You don't see the smaller red blood cells, but the white cells are large enough for you to see. The pathways that they are following are the tiny vessels that carry your blood. Some medical researchers are using this as a way to do quick, easy white cell counts for patients with immune system problems. Patients can learn to compare the number of spots that they see with charts, to estimate their white cell count. This helps them avoid taking frequent blood samples. As someone that has a phobia about needles, this sounds like a wonderful idea to me. This was taken from http://www.aboutchildrenshealth.com

Okay peeps here are what I see and here is the link that really explains it short and sweet! This is a diff link then I gave Gary. Took me awhile to find this one. http://72.14.207.104/searchq=cache:cBINabth6WkJ:www.aboutchildrenshealth.com/library/weekly/aa011501a.htm+kids+seeing+blood+cells+paper&hl=en I noticed these bright bits darting around easily when looking at blue sky or gray fog. I can see them if I unfocus my eyes slightly on white walls, paper and sometimes one or two will dart when I focus on my pc monitor. They appear to me as specks that are bright and they dart all different directions! They do however appear to dart towards me. If my heartrate is up they zoom by faster. I find the more I try to see them the more I see them and it can get pretty annoying. ) When I do not focus on them my eyes learn they are not important to focus on and I don't see them unless I think about it and try to see them or if I am staring off in thought and my eyes slightly unfocus. When people sneeze or cough hard it does shake up and throw the liquid and junk behind the eyes forward so that does cause people to see sparks or flashes right after a sneeze. That however, is something different. Floaters and flashes and seening stars are completly different as well and should be checked out by an opthamologist. Hope this helps. You need to see this link as it is the least complex when this is explained. You can test your friends and have them unfocus their eyes on a white paper or a blue sky and look for them and they will see them too. Di