# Do people who lose their eyes see darkness? Or nothing? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 16, 2006, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-who-lose-their-eyes-see-darkness-or-nothing/364724 "2006-07-16T09:36:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-who-lose-their-eyes-see-darkness-or-nothing/364724/21 "2006-07-17T10:55:02Z")
[QUOTE=Alive At Both Ends] As mentioned above, it’s due to pressure on the retina. The lights are called “phosphenes”. I think you should be concerned if you see them without _any_ pressure on your eyelids - this may mean you have excessive internal pressure inside your eyeballs. I’d go see a doctor just to make sure that you aren’t in the early stages of glaucoma or something similar. [/QUOTE] I see (and have always seen) phosphenes without pressing my eyes (well, they may not actually _be_ phosphenes, but suffice it to say that I see kaleidoscopic and persian-rug swirly coloured things when I am in the dark with my eyes shut). There is a history of glaucoma in my family, but I am tested for it regularly and have never shown any danger signs. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-who-lose-their-eyes-see-darkness-or-nothing/364724/22 "2006-07-17T11:21:45Z")
[QUOTE=XJETGIRLX] It’s not black, you simply _don’t see anything_. There’s a hole in my vision, around which I can see but in the middle is .. nothing. Not a black spot, not a hole, and to be honest it’s hard to even say how it is that I can define where the nothingness starts and stops. It’s gone within about a half hour, and my vision returns to normal. I don’t know the mechanisms involved that cause the scotoma or whether it would be similar for someone without eyes, but I would imagine that the brain’s interpretation of no signal would not be black, but, well, nothing. [/QUOTE] I was about to say the same thing. As a fellow sufferer, I can report that what I see is just _nothing at all_. I suspect it’s impossible to imagein if you’ve never experienced it. Not black, grey, white: just a patch missing. If I’m not thinking about it, my brain does a bit of a job of filling the hole in with what surrounds it - which can be freaky when looking at familiar objects, or people’s faces - but if I concentrate, it’s obvious as an absence of vision. However, this might not be relevant to people who have actually lost their eyes, having already been sighted. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-who-lose-their-eyes-see-darkness-or-nothing/364724/23 "2006-07-17T11:52:58Z")
In terms of what people born blind actually see; it might be helpful to think of it as being exactly the same as what a person with 20/20 vision can see _directly behind them_. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-who-lose-their-eyes-see-darkness-or-nothing/364724/24 "2006-07-17T12:46:24Z")
I think that you would at first see blackness, of perhaps some other streaks of the nerves were fireing for some reason (pressure?), eventually you would forget how to see, as it doens’t help you, and eventually see nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Baffle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dec6dc/32.png) [@Baffle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baffle)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-who-lose-their-eyes-see-darkness-or-nothing/364724/25 "2006-07-18T11:40:46Z")
Thank you for the replies. As I can open my eyes in the dark and still see the streaks of light, I’m now somewhat concerned and will have to get it checked out. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-who-lose-their-eyes-see-darkness-or-nothing/364724.md?page=1)