Phosphenes: Eye-worms or Psychedelic Transmissions?

Phosphenes are the arcs and splashes of light that you see when you rub your eyes really hard.

They are caused by mechanical and electromagnetic stimulation of retinal cells, which normally only respond to light stimulus.

Sir Isaac Newton was one of the first to document phosphenes, which he did by inserting a blunt-ended sewing needle between his eye and his eye socket and jiggling it around until he saw dark and light circles form.

It’s possible that rubbing your eyes hadn’t been invented yet, or that “sticking things into your eyeballs” held brief popularity before the scientific method. Newton’s dedication to discovery is laudable but ill-advised.

Why do phosphenes happen?

Pressure and magnetically stimulated retina cells transmit arcs of ‘colour’ that we can’t accurately describe with images or pictures, because pictures and images are conjured in our brains using light; you can’t just look at anything in particular to invoke phosphenes. They’re also caused by:

• Transcranial magnetic stimulation
• Cosmic radiation: certain types of radiation cause astronauts to experience phosphenes
• Prisoner’s cinema: When the eyes are deprived of light for extended periods of time (ie: prison), phosphenes begin to play across the field of vision as your brain grasps for stimuli

Try at home

While rubbing your eyeballs isn’t great for your eyesight (and DON’T USE A NEEDLE JESUS), give it a shot some time and see what all the fuss is about.

Want to read more about overzealous researchers who needlessly sacrificed themselves for science? Check out these 10 silly scientists.

TLDR: your eyes are little sacs of jelly and putting pressure on them is bad and causes phosphenes