New Reports on Visual Snow

It was interesting reading about some recent reports about visual snow, a phenomenon where patients see constant “static” or “spots”.

As we’ve discussed before, there is a debate about how visual snow is related to migraine. Persistent migraine aura is how we describe visual symptoms of migraine that don’t go away. Visual snow is usually described as a more specific symptom. Read more about both here: Persistent Migraine Aura and Visual Snow?

Treatments such as valproic acid, acetazolamide, lamotrigine and topiramate are typical for visual snow. But according to a recent paper, less than half of patients responded to the medications that were prescribed for them. Which means there’s a lot of work to do.

Many patients tried recreational drugs for visual snow, which tended to make things worse. In fact, hallucinogenic drugs are a common cause of visual snow.

Check out this post from the New York Headache blog for more interesting facts, such as who visual snow tends to affect, when it’s at its worst, and how it may be connected to headache and migraine: Visual snow is related to migraines, can be disabling