Goggles?

 

Yes dude of course I ride with goggles. I still have the same issue.

 

You ride with goggles right? Do you see this only when riding or also when it’s bright like say driving on a sunny day?

Not a doctor but best guess is potentially there may be something going on with your eye. I have astigmatism and even when riding with lenses that let too much light in for the conditions the most I get is a bit more glare and that “streaking” thing my vision does without glasses. Haven’t experienced a vortex as you’re describing.

 

Yeah, I ride with goggles. It mainly shows up when riding. I haven't really noticed it other times. I think it's the snow that makes everything brighter. I have astigmatism too, but I'm not sure what this is.

 

But which goggles?

To minimize glare you want a spherical or toroid lens. Blue light scatters the most and can even cause fluorescense in the lens of your eye, so get goggles (often high-contrast) that block bluelight. A reflective coating also helps with glare.

I suspect this is more physics than physiology... but you should get your eyes checked.

 

Yeah, I'm hoping a change in goggles will fix it, but I have gotten my eyes checked and besides this I have perfect vision. They've never picked up on anything wrong. I know there's something wrong but I was wondering if anyone else is dealing with this.

 

Does the pattern move with your eyeball movements while your head is stable? That would imply an issue in your eye. If it doesn't move when you move your eyeballs, that would imply the goggle lens. If you're not sure, one idea is to stop when it happens, hold your head still, and move your eyeballs. If you have to be moving, then try to hold your head orientation steady wrt the sun.

Another test is to immediately swap goggles with a friend while on the run and see if things change for you (or them).

Do you experience this in any other bright environment? Like if you're on a field during a very sunny day? If this happens without googles on in other contexts then it would be your eyes.

The teal and magenta colors make me wonder if this might be some kind of afterimage since that's usually an inverted color (look at the flag examples on this Wiki page). However, afterimages usually only happen if the eyeball is held fixed on a target image and they are not typically animated like yours.

You'd be surprised how many weird eye things there are. The visual perception system is incredibly complex and one little thing can produce odd effects, even in healthy eyes. This is why the afterimage effect and optical illusions work. It's probably worth mentioning this to your eye doctor because they may have an idea.

 

Does the pattern move with your eyeball movements while your head is stable? That would imply an issue in your eye. If it doesn't move when you move your eyeballs, that would imply the goggle lens. If you're not sure, one idea is to stop when it happens, hold your head still, and move your eyeballs. If you have to be moving, then try to hold your head orientation steady wrt the sun.

Another test is to immediately swap goggles with a friend while on the run and see if things change for you (or them).

Do you experience this in any other bright environment? Like if you're on a field during a very sunny day? If this happens without googles on in other contexts then it would be your eyes.

The teal and magenta colors make me wonder if this might be some kind of afterimage since that's usually an inverted color (look at the flag examples on this Wiki page). However, afterimages usually only happen if the eyeball is held fixed on a target image and they are not typically animated like yours.

You'd be surprised how many weird eye things there are. The visual perception system is incredibly complex and one little thing can produce odd effects, even in healthy eyes. This is why the afterimage effect and optical illusions work. It's probably worth mentioning this to your eye doctor because they may have an idea.

Yeah, it's definitely an issue with my eye. It's mainly when it's super bright, like when it's kind of overcast and there's snow on the ground or snowboarding on a bright day. I guess nobody else on here has this because I haven't gotten any responses from people who do.

 

I’m still curious about the goggles… knock-off Amazon special? Lens shape? Tint?

 

Gosh I don't really know. They're not knock-off Amazon ones, they're Smith goggles and the tint is kinda greenish blue I guess. They're pretty old but not super shitty or anything. I don't know about the lens shape.

 

I see you!
100% i know what you are talking about!
You kinda lose your central visions and its blurry around the peripheral.
Aura Migraine Headaches….no actual pain, but 20 minutes of partial loss of vision.
wavy lines around the peripheral and really shitty central vision.
used to get them on the regular and not just while snowboarding.
Brought on by bright light but usually overcast skies.

Snow blindness or Photokeratitis could also be happening.
I get it every now and then and it sucks!
ruins a good day on the mountain.

currently wearing anon M4 goggles which seems to help.
havent had it happen on the mountain yet this season fingers crossed.

I’m also permanently visually impaired in one eye which makes it more challenging when it happens.

Spend the $$$ on high quality goggles is my advice!
also get multiple lenses for varying light conditions.

 

Aura Migraine Headaches….no actual pain, but 20 minutes of partial loss of vision.

I have those. With actual pain after the vision is back.
But I don't think is the case of OP, because they say it is only during snowboarding.

If I can throw in another point, could this be altitude influenced?

 

Lens shape is important, and I’d imagine color shift tech would be worth looking into in your case. Smith uses chromapop in some of their lenses, and the other large goggle companies have variants. I like the chromapop personally. I think it takes the blue away. I’m not sure.

 

I got a bright squiggly in one of my eyes, probably from having my goggles off for too long while I was having lunch. It's important when looking at snow in the sun to always have shade, whether it's goggles or you keep a cheap pair of throwaway sunglasses in your pocket.

 

Oh yeah I did one trip without my Camelback and never again. I'll kill 70oz over 8 hours no problem at all.

 

For real! I’m generally my only friend riding with water on me. Every time we ride I’ve got to share water with someone who suddenly realizes they’re getting dangerously dehydrated. Kinda like a toddler who suddenly has an emergency bathroom situation pop up out of nowhere, dehydration can sneak up on you in the cold.

 

I still think this could be simple physics:

Some high end cylindrical goggles are manufactured better now, but the cheaper ones are simply bent, creating even more distortion.

Goggles generally aren’t polarized, so they don’t reduce glare as much as sunglasses.

When surrounded by white snow, there’s tons of blue light scattered off surfaces. This is junk light because it just causes veiling glare that saturates your vision without providing detail.

 

Well, funny because I have spherical lenses.

 

They forgot the most important point of cylindrical lenses.

* Look super cool

- Anon M3 aficionado