This MRI scan of what happens when you rub your eyes is a proper eye-opener
A video of an MRI scan showing exactly what happens inside your head when your rub your eyes has just gone viral on Reddit and, er, it’s a proper eye opener.
It was shared by really-anonymus and it’s a brief but fascinating watch.
It’s taken from a longer video posted on YouTube by researcher and innovator Dr Damien Gatinel. Here’s the clip in full.
And it’s fair to say that opinion was divided on it. Really divided.
‘This is why it feels so darn good. A lil massage to get the eyeball juices moved around. It looks satisfying.’
Rikki-roo‘Seriously I absolutely love the way this feels.’
narrow_octopus‘Funny, and here I am watching that MRI and thinking, “I’m never rubbing my eyeballs again!”’
PM_BiscuitsAndGravy‘Ok so when I was a kid I noticed that when I did this I could see lights so sometimes when I couldn’t get to sleep I’d close my eyes then push on them with my hands for a while and pay close attention to the shit I started to see and really focus on it and I felt like I was flying through space.
‘It’s probably not good for your eyes although I still have pretty good eyes and I’m in my 40s now but back then I was like “going on a space adventure!”‘
deekaph‘Those purple lights actually have a name- phosphene. Even if you don’t push on your eyes, you may be able to control your closed eye visuals to a certain extent with your mind. Think of an object and your brain will produce a vague kaleidoscope version of it.’
ConsciousFractals‘Guess I’m never rubbing my eyes again.’
gxblinx
And finally – adopts serious tone of voice – a(another) doctor writes.
‘Eye doctor here with a strong recommendation to all to not rub their eyes whenever possible and to treat whatever is making your eyes perpetually itchy instead of rubbing the hell out of them. Here in the MRI you can see the beating that the eyeball takes, the increases in water density in several parts, specifically the corneas.
‘Eye rubbing is a mechanism to create more astigmatism and corneal thinning which leads to warping known as Keratoconus, which can be a condition that requires special and often expensive management. When you press down on the cornea like this, you create thinning, which creates irregularity of optical surface, which creates visual distortion.
‘Imagine a drinking straw. If you take that drinking straw flat on a table and press your finger into the middle of it, you’ll see both ends flip upwards because as you thin the middle, you push the materials outward, forcing a flexure of the shape. The same happens to your corneas over time if you continue to rub your eyes too much.
‘A lot of people are curious as to why eye rubbing feels so good, so I’ll copy my own response down below. Scratching creates small amounts of inflammation, which creates pain.
‘It’s going to start sounding masochistic, but the pain also forces your brain to start making Serotonin, to combat this pain, which itself is a “feel good” brain chemical, but it’s there largely to fight the pain. The pain experienced from scratching is usually so low, however, that the net benefit is basically just “feeling good”.
‘The eyes are chock FULL of sensory nerves and are SO sensitive that you can floor some people with a grain of sand or a hair in the eye. Imagine how many signals THAT sends back to the brain.
‘Just like scratching a mosquito bite, do your best to avoid it and move on. Find another solution that doesn’t involve butting your knuckes into your eye repeatedly (corrected sadistic vs masochistic).’
OscarDivine
Took us back to this other eye-opener we featured a while back.
Astigmatism is when the cornea is slightly curved rather than completely round..
With astigmatism, light focuses on several points of the retina rather just one point. This is what people with Astigmatisms vs without. pic.twitter.com/RXWWayFBRJ
— Unusual Facts (@UnusualFacts6) March 25, 2019
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