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Posted: 27-03-2012 23:20 Post subject: Mite in my eye

I just had the weirdest thing happen. I was pressing my eyes [I am quite tired and as you do, I got carried away and wanted to see the "lightshow" that happens when you press your eyeballs. As I look out for colours, I can sometimes see my own iris and pupil, changing colours. I don't know how though, maybe like an after image.
Anyway, suddenly I see something oscillating, so I keep my eye really still and what can I see as clear as the day? A mite. Face, feelers, legs, the lot. walking around [under difficulties, thanks to my pressure].
I have seen the mite somehow under very interesting circumstances.
What I find notable is that:
a) I saw the mite as if illuminated from underneath [maybe mirror effect from retina?
b) My eyes were squashed shut and the room was dark.
c) I saw the mite magnified and in great detail [leg joints etc]
d) The mite seemed close, whilst the afterimage of my iris seemed more a blurry background, maybe even illuminating the scene [which would be crazy because the one is a residual firing of the cones and the other was a real thing].

Somehow my lens must have acted as a microscope because of the pressure, I find this really intriguing?

So here I am, the woman with the mite in her eyes...
Cool

Posted: 27-03-2012 23:28 Post subject:

I have seen this effect too, when pressing on my eye. Didn't see a mite, but saw dust and eyelashes magnified greatly.
If I were you, I'd give the eyes a wash to flush out the mite.

Posted: 27-03-2012 23:31 Post subject:

There is a type of mite that lives in human eyelashes, so it's nothing to worry about, just like ones which live on your skin.

Posted: 27-03-2012 23:44 Post subject:

It did have a friendly enough face, so I'll just leave it be.
Ah and yes I do remember seeing eyelashes bigger before as well. It was just brilliant to see something moving just under the microscope.

I still like to know how the brain illuminated the scene though because not only were my eyes shut but the light was off as well. I had been in a lit room before though.

Posted: 27-03-2012 23:59 Post subject:

Posted: 28-03-2012 09:23 Post subject:

Posted: 28-03-2012 15:32 Post subject:

Posted: 28-03-2012 17:42 Post subject:

Are you quite sure it was a mite and not a Floater or Flying Fly? Question

Posted: 28-03-2012 22:10 Post subject:

Posted: 28-03-2012 22:17 Post subject:

Yebbut, crabs make you itch, microscopic mites don't, they're too small.

Posted: 29-03-2012 07:37 Post subject:

Hands up all those who by now have tried pressing their eyeballs to see if they've got mites! Smile

Posted: 29-03-2012 23:24 Post subject:

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Posted: 30-03-2012 22:55 Post subject:

Posted: 31-03-2012 16:52 Post subject:

Update. You don't have to squash your eyes to see 'them'. I was lying in bed this morning and because of the light there was illumination even when the eyes were just closed normally.
I really had to focus and concentrate but once you know where to look it all becomes clear. I saw everything floating around on my lens, just like under a microscope. I saw floaters and one 'thing' that could have been a dead mite [didn't move but looked as if it had legs]. It kept floating out of my vision when I tried to look at it.
It got so annoying [knowing where to look] that I could not de-focus and I kept seeing these things rather than drift into sleep [it was too early to get up].

So the only mystery for me is now: did the 'inner light' illuminate the first mite?

If so, that is quite amazing because I thought that those light-shows were senseless firing of neurons, reacting to pressure. However it must also be 'proper' light if I could see in the dark what was going on.

Damn, if I did see another one yesterday, how many of those f*^£ers are there on our eyeballs?
Better not dwell on it.
Let me know if anyone gets to see one, now I know how simple it really is and you don't have to press anything...
Wink