Talk:Photophobia

Edit
Added Magnesium Deficiency. See http://www.healthy.net/asp/templates/article.asp?id=541 and others. 84.129.160.246 (talk)

Photo Allergy
Redirecting here from photo allergy is definitely misleading, as these are two very distinct pathologies.--217.227.81.125 09:53, 11 August 2007 (UTC)
 * Nevermind, it wasn't a linking issue at all. Nevertheless, some of the mythology issues properly belong to photoallergy instead.--217.227.81.125 10:02, 11 August 2007 (UTC)

Edit
Added some details of the mechanisms that lead to photophobia. --220.238.213.232 03:12, 21 March 2007 (UTC)Andrew C.

Edit
Added some more causes. Revamped it a little. Also added some external links. Corbinb8 23:49, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

Actual effect
Could someone more knowledgable about it describe how the photophobia actually affects the person? I.e. does he feel actual pain, or is it a fear-effect (as implied by phobia) or does he feel just discomfort. If so, where? Skin or eyes only, or even with eyes closed? Max robitzsch 20:15, 4 August 2006 (UTC)
 * Honestly, it varies greatly depending on the person in question. --65.2.100.46 03:14, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

I have photophobia, and it hurts my eyes. Take a flashlight, and shine it into your eyes for some time. That's discomfort, right? Imagine "more discomfort" than that, and you're close. And no, photophobia as a condition of the EYES usually has no connection to fear. Allyddin Sane 21:36, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

I also have Photophobia. The main pain is in the "back" of the eye for me, not on the skin (I am unaware of this being a case with people affected). Sunlight is very painful and causes me to squint a lot to try and block excess light. When going to places that have more sun there than where I live (UK), it is impossible for me to venture outdoors without wearing shades of some sort, it is just too painful. A side effect of Photophobia is migraine attacks for some people (I certainly get them), although these can largely be controlled with medication. Pain will subside with closure of eyes, although this takes time to fully go.

I have no 'fear' of light, I've just learnt to avoid situations which may put me in pain. This is the same as any medication condition though. Ironically, I have above average sight in darkly lit situations (this is actually one of the ways they test for Photophobia) due to, as the article correctly states "too much light entering the eye". This happens regardless of light level for some people, which has the upshot of better vision than average in low-light situations.

While I can only talk of my experiences with it, If there is anything more you wish to know just ask! 82.47.0.158 02:18, 3 December 2007 (UTC)

Reference to Photic sneeze reflex?
Could anyone write a brief paragraph explaining how photophobia and Photic sneeze reflex are different (or linked, i don't know, that's why i'm asking :) Something like: "photophobia shouldn't be confused with photic sneeze reflex... blah blah" --62.57.93.166 14:09, 21 August 2006 (UTC) I ask because both seems to be caused by excessive sensitivity to light --62.57.93.166 14:11, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

I have it. It hurts. Elizabeth Hensley lhensley@webkraft-hs.net

I have suffered from Photophobia for the majority of my life. It has nothing to do with a fear of any kind, although the name of this condition leads many to think that it is. It is extremely painful at times and sometimes it is even debilitating. I am forced to wear sunglasses at almost all times. Some forms of unnatural light though can be tolerated but no matter the light long term exposure will eventually cause forms of discomfort and pain. I am not sure how it is for many people that suffer this same condition but I know that for myself that I see things differently because my depth of photophobia has caused my eyes to see things differently, such as colors. When I am reading I find it very difficult to read anything that is black print on white background unless I am in a low light environment. For those that are trying to understand in a way what it is to go through this… Watch the movie “Pitch Black” or “Chronicles Of Riddick” The main character in these movies had his eyes surgically altered to create a high light sensitivity. Now I know that it is not the same for all of us that have this condition but our vision is easily compared to the high reflectivity off objects and the fear like reaction to bright unexpected lights. I know that I have not answered all the questions on this page but I hope that I have given some an insight into what it is like to suffer from this condition on a day to day basis.

fear vs. eye condition
I'm not entirely happy with this article... first it cites REAL medical conditions, like EYE diseases - then it mentions vampires burning in sunlight. That has nothing to do with the eyes, right? I'm not sure how exactly to fix it, but I thought I'd mention it.... Allyddin Sane 21:38, 11 February 2007 (UTC)


 * I feel you are correct. It is a medical condition and the article should cover that. Vampires certainly have nothing to do with an eye condition. 82.47.0.158 (talk) 02:33, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

I am confused
Is this mixing a phobia with a medical condition and symptom? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Migospia (talk • contribs) 02:49, 12 February 2007 (UTC).

- But if its a behavior that does not make sense because there have been people with genetic or neurological disorders that light causes certain attacks, dizziness an often seizures (mainly epilepsy and migraine) especially if it is flashing light. And with genetic some people are allergic to light and the sun which causes attacks or their skin to fall off, so if photophobia is not part of that, you guys sort of describe it is being part of this medical light symptoms and as a mental type disorder. - Migospia (talk  contribs) 12:29, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

Think the confusion has to do with the two possible meanings of the "-phobia" suffix. One means a psychological fear; another is more of a physical aversion. Think of the term "Hydrophobia", which can refer either to fear of water (psychological) or rabies (physical, neurological), a disease that can make it impossible to swallow water (oh, and cause certain death...). They are two different things using the same word--ah, the tangled mess of the English language.--130.108.144.157 (talk) 18:51, 10 August 2009 (UTC)

Photophobic Gnomi?
I think it's not accurate to list Paracelsus' "gnomi" as photophobic creatures. Actually in this page of the "Liber de nymphis, sylphis, pygmaeis et salamandris et de caeteris spiritibus" Paracelsus writes that gnomi "see through the earth, as we see through the air, and that the sun shines for them trough the earth, as it shines through the air for us, and they have the sun and the moon and the whole firmament before their eyes, as we humans have them". Stammer 08:51, 15 April 2007 (UTC)

Please Help Me.
Hi You ,guys, have mentioned a lot of causes for photophobia. But there is a really important one which I don't know why it should be omitted at every textbook about eyes. "UV" ,Ultra Violet light. It is now 15 hard years which I suffer from a case of very sever form of photophobia caused by the UV beams of a GoldStar(now LG) CRT monitor used by me when I was a teenager. But Not a single eye speciallist accepts that(I live in IRAN). The only clinical symptom of my disease is Pain due to exposure to light. I wear two sunglasses simulataniously. And I am the only person in world whose screen at home and at work is a Video Projector. My windows are sealed by Aluminium foiles at both sides. What has happened to my eyes at cellular level ? I don't know. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.207.241.203  (talk • contribs)  19:58, 24 December 2007 (UTC)

Another condition omitted is Keratoconus a lot of people with this condition do suffer photophobia aswell QueenAlexandria (talk) 21:19, 9 July 2012 (UTC)

Autism Citation
Saw the "citation needed" flag & did a quick Medline search. Found this: Gluskin, E.; Bisketzis, N.; Ben-Shimol, Y.; Topalis, FV. “The autistic vision problem with light from fluorescent lamps explained in terms of coherence and phase shift.” Medical Hypotheses, v. 66 issue 1, 2006, p. 207-8.

Does it count as photophobia if it is in relation to a specific sort of light? --130.108.144.64 (talk) 15:35, 30 July 2009 (UTC)


 * There is a whole section on Artificial Light in this article, due to the relation between photophobia and fluorescent lamps. Meanwhile, the citation currently given for autism has to do with changes to the pupillary light reflex but not to light sensitivity per se. The above citation appears more relevant. ParticipantObserver (talk) 06:40, 12 August 2018 (UTC)

Pop culture
I'm getting rid of the "In mythology"/"In Popular Culture" stuff. Not only is it really not in keeping with the Wikipedia style as noted in WP:POPCULTURE, but this article is about a specific human medical symptom which really has nothing to do with light turning vampires into dust and making Tolkien's orcs giddy. Rob T Firefly (talk) 06:08, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

New refs
I've just added references for most of the causes. It's worth noting that many of these references link to items which discuss photophobia in general, so if anyone has the time and inclination they can use those refs to flesh out and improve the article proper. Rob T Firefly (talk) 09:49, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

Special glasses for photophobia
How can I let a mention about the only one company in the whole world that produces special eyeglasses for photophobia when using a computer, Gunnar Optiks,  everytime I post it,  it gets removed because of being promotional material,  but that is unavoidable,  it is like when an article says Aspirine is perfect for headaches,  it is promoting to buy Aspirine: Yes,  but it is the true. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Granito diaz (talk • contribs) 14:16, 27 June 2010 (UTC) Granito diaz (talk) 16:53, 27 June 2010 (UTC)
 * If you can find reliable, third-party, non-promotional sources for the information in accordance with WP:SOURCES and WP:PRIMARY, also keeping in mind WP:NOTADVERTISING and WP:PRODUCT, then the info might add to the article. Rob T Firefly (talk) 19:55, 3 April 2011 (UTC)

See also section
I removed an entry which is already linked in the lede. If this is a problem, maybe discuss here. Thank you, --68.9.119.69 (talk) 03:28, 4 November 2011 (UTC)

"full spectrum of light"
I'm not a usual editor, but someone should reconsider the phrase "full spectrum of light" in the sentence "In some cases those who are born with it see the full spectrum of light." I also don't know what that's referring to but at the very least make it clear that you're referring to the normally visible spectrum of light, unless of course these people really can detect x-rays and infrared light, which I doubt. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.58.110.26 (talk) 21:36, 21 November 2013 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to 1 one external link on Photophobia. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20090929192633/http://www.tsbvi.edu:80/Education/anomalies/Photophobia.htm to http://www.tsbvi.edu/Education/anomalies/Photophobia.htm

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true to let others know.

Cheers. —cyberbot II  Talk to my owner :Online 18:44, 19 October 2015 (UTC)

"Environmental Impact" Section
Not a usual editor, but I can't help but feel an 'environmental impact' section that hardly even touches the subject matter of the page (and is entirely unsourced, for that matter) belongs on a medical page. At best, it should probably be heavily edited to remain relevant to the article and sources located. 68.169.181.235 (talk) 00:20, 27 June 2018 (UTC)

Removal of Environmental Impact Section
I have removed the environmental impact section that was previously below disability. The entire section was unsourced, and offtopic. I tried to find sources about LED lights and their impact on photophobia, but I did not find anything that I would consider credibly. Nearly all sources trace the root cause to other health conditions (all of which are mentioned elsewhere in the article). It seems this section just existed as a way to hate LED lightbulbs.

Alienith (talk) 20:57, 28 December 2018 (UTC)