What are the swirling dots in the air called?

[sincerebliss]

Okay, I know I must sound nuts if you don't know what I'm talking about but can someone please give me a name for those swirling dots in the air and the worm-like umbrellas that sometimes accompany them? My friends thought I was nuts until I pointed it out to them and they saw it, too. Does anyone know what I'm talking about?:lol:

Alicia

[wolf]

If I'm thinking of the same thing you're describing ... you are seeing the veins in the back of your retina.

They're called "floaters."

You are more likely to see them when you are looking at a white background with fairly good lighting. They can be squggles, dots, spots, and blobs of varying shapes.

They're fairly normal, but too many can be a sign of retinal damage, detachment, or a problem with blood flow to the retina. See your eye doctor.

[Nosnah]

oooh i get those constantly! and i have migraines with auras, so i get my eyes dilated pretty regularly... i would reccommend doing that with floaters, and many eye docs suggest it as well

[RoseKitten]

Heh... since her friends can see it... they're probally not floaters, as only the person experiencing them can see them :lol:

I have no idea though.

[Ben Gruagach]

Where I come from, we call those specks floating in the air "dust."

They show up best in a beam of light in a relatively dark room. In a barn you see them a lot.

[wolf]

Heh... since her friends can see it... they're probally not floaters, as only the person experiencing them can see them :lol:

I have no idea though.

They're seeing their own floaters ...

[Rick]

"What are the swirling dots in the air called?"

Dust motes

[MoonDust]

ha ha ha

[LyraDragonStar]

Ooh, interesting.

[Djiril]

You mean they're not faries? :(

[LadyCelt]

do they look like specs of dust? i don't remember seeing much of them since childhood.

[Élistariel]

They're seeing their own floaters ...

I'm sorry, but that makes me think of an Austin Powers quote.
"Fat B left a floatah!"
Great, now I have a mental image of sincerebliss and all her friends peering over toilets.
:rollingla

Do you see them during day and night or just one?

[LostSheep]

If I'm thinking of the same thing you're describing ... you are seeing the veins in the back of your retina.

They're called "floaters."

You are more likely to see them when you are looking at a white background with fairly good lighting. They can be squggles, dots, spots, and blobs of varying shapes.

They're fairly normal, but too many can be a sign of retinal damage, detachment, or a problem with blood flow to the retina. See your eye doctor.
Actually i needn't panic too much, as if they move around when you move your eye, they're most likely to be bits of skin floating in the fluid (or whatever it is) in the eye, if you look at something trying not to blink or move the eye, do they gradually sink down? if they do that's probably what they are.

On the other hand, of course, I'm not a doctor, so they might be spirits. It might be wise to get that checked out as well.

[Toby Stimpson]

Sometimes it may be steam rising...I know when ever I look at the sun reflectd on my bathroom floor I see little swirls and then i realize that it's the vapour rising from the left over snow or dew....it's an interesting thing to see. Apart from that, I get those floaters soemtiems when I pass out...they all converge on me and it's like "Go away you nasty things I can't see my Boyfriend....*screams*" Yes, not a fun experiance.

Tobias

[Mouse]

I think I know what you mean.. When you look up in the sky (esp when its a bright blue day) you see rainbow colloured specks floating around? You can't follow just one with your eyes, because they are tiny and they seem to disapear and reapear and move around a lot?

I used to think they where sylphs, lol, but honestly I have no real idea.

[aislin_ryann]

I agree, they are floaters and dust. I see them daily. :) I have high blood pressure and when it is up, I see the floaters.

[taijiya]

If you're referring to things that sometimes crop up in photographs, they're usually called "orbs" and "rods." The idea of those being paranormal events, as opposed to photographic anomalies, has been widely debunked, but there's plenty of sites on both sides of the camp to be found on the web. :)

[BlueMoon13]

I'm with the floater explanation (with apologies to the Fat B:lol: ) I always think they look like translucent Spaghetti-O's:dinnertim

[flameofjoy]

What are the swirling dots in the air called?

Alicia


Well, it depends on what they look like precisely. Many people here vote for floaters. I have floaters occasionally, so I know what they look like, but I myself see things in the sky (and have done so since I was a child) that are definitely NOT floaters. They are very tiny shiney sparkling dots, sort of golden in color, and there are millions of them everywhere. They are easiest to see on a bright but overcast day, although I have also seen them in a bright blue sky as well. They're easy to see once you know what you're looking for, but the first time I noticed them I was about 10 or 11 and I was lying on my back just looking up into a bright overcast sky, when suddenly I saw million of teeny tiny golden sparkles everywhere, & no matter which way I looked they were everywhere.

In later years I was told they were like energy, or prana, but I have also heard that they are just droplets of water vapor. Beyond that, I really don't know. Can't add anything about the umbrella things. I've never seen any of those.

[Toby Stimpson]

I disagree. I wear glasses and have a problem where if I alk into a dark room suddenly it takes me a little while to adjust to the dark...and at this tiem I see all of those little specks and dots spoken of here. It is just an optical illusion created by light as it enters the back of the cortex...vision is an interesting thing where what we see is filtered as we cannot possibly see everything all at once...so the specks and dots are actually like the static on a channel out of focus or soemwhat like that. You may believe that they are energy beings or what have you, but I can tell you for a fact that they are just optical illusions.

Tobias

[sincerebliss]

Well, it depends on what they look like precisely. Many people here vote for floaters. I have floaters occasionally, so I know what they look like, but I myself see things in the sky (and have done so since I was a child) that are definitely NOT floaters. They are very tiny shiney sparkling dots, sort of golden in color, and there are millions of them everywhere. They are easiest to see on a bright but overcast day, although I have also seen them in a bright blue sky as well. They're easy to see once you know what you're looking for, but the first time I noticed them I was about 10 or 11 and I was lying on my back just looking up into a bright overcast sky, when suddenly I saw million of teeny tiny golden sparkles everywhere, & no matter which way I looked they were everywhere.

In later years I was told they were like energy, or prana, but I have also heard that they are just droplets of water vapor. Beyond that, I really don't know. Can't add anything about the umbrella things. I've never seen any of those.

Yeah, I kind of thought they were more energy than anything. I googled the word, "Floaters." Here's a link I found. God, I'm only seventeen and it is said that seeing these things come with age. I'm not exactly old yet. Kind of not good..
http://www.nei.nih.gov/health/floaters/index.asp
Oh, thank you everyone. Your comments are great. :)

[dr_zeus440]

its something to do with the eyes. atleast if we're talking about the same thing. to me, they look like little eggs (no, not chicken eggs, ovum), vaguely bubble shaped circles with darker dots in the middle of them, used to see them all the time when i would lie on the trampoline staring at the sky when i was a kid. anyway, mine move when i blink, so from that i gather that its my eye, and not the universe at large :P. funny that there's a decent number of people who notice them though.

[semi]

The darker swirly shifting things are floaters, as has been said already. The sparkly dots that you see when you look, for example, up at the sky on a sunny day are called phosphenes. They are similar to floaters because they occur in the retina, not in the sky or in the air.

[AuntBooPeaceFrog]

Well, I asked about something like this, too, and was told by semi that it sounds like floaters, and some of the things I see, I think might be floaters - they look like little swirley strips of dna- and I've seen the light things, the "optical illusions", and I think that everybody's sorta right - also, I know that the people who try to explain it away THINK they are trying to clear up us poor, deluded folks who "want to see things"... but see, there are two sides to every coin, and one can just as easily see that there are skeptics who cannot wait to GUARANTEE you they know for sure what it is... hmmm... ok don't get yer dander up AuntBoo, what would love do?... ok so anywho, all I can say is that unless someone is inside your head, experiencing what you're seeing, kind of a "Being Jon Malkovich" deal, then they can't guarantee you anything ( just like I know, I can't guarantee that it is, either :D )
Soooo... with that being said, my 2 cents is that sometimes the things I see make reality appear sort of like a computer screen or TV, when you can see the individual little molecule looking things on there... um, which, while being perhaps an "optical illusion", doesn't cancel out the fact that you ARE seeing energy of some sort - so I'm thinking that it all goes back to our spirit being trapped in this body, interpreting what it sees on life's "screen"...
All the skeptics can reply whatever they want, but I know in my heart what I believe is true to me... just as what they believe is true to them... and people have a tough time grasping that the truth can be subjective... but it is - we deny the duality because we can't explain it -
No matter what you're seeing, you're perceiving some form of energy, because what are we humans & this world composed of, if not walking balls of energy & spirit. By golly we're miracles.
:hugz:

[Kaylara]

My family calls them 'sprinkles' and as I have nearly perfect vision (and no known eye defects) I don't think it has to be an eye problem. For me (and my siblings and cousins) it's the visual background energy that we move through.

[Hope3645]

Well, it depends on what they look like precisely. Many people here vote for floaters. I have floaters occasionally, so I know what they look like, but I myself see things in the sky (and have done so since I was a child) that are definitely NOT floaters. They are very tiny shiney sparkling dots, sort of golden in color, and there are millions of them everywhere. They are easiest to see on a bright but overcast day, although I have also seen them in a bright blue sky as well. They're easy to see once you know what you're looking for, but the first time I noticed them I was about 10 or 11 and I was lying on my back just looking up into a bright overcast sky, when suddenly I saw million of teeny tiny golden sparkles everywhere, & no matter which way I looked they were everywhere.

I see the tiny sparkling dots as well! I have asked a few people about them, but most just look at me like I'm crazy. The one who didn't told me they are floaters. I'm not really sure what they are, but sometimes I like to pretend that they are the Dust (with a capital "D") from the His Dark Materials trilogy. :) Glade to know that, whatever they are, that I am not alone in seeing them.

Love and Blessings,
Hope

[Little Billy]

Okay, I know I must sound nuts if you don't know what I'm talking about but can someone please give me a name for those swirling dots in the air and the worm-like umbrellas that sometimes accompany them? My friends thought I was nuts until I pointed it out to them and they saw it, too. Does anyone know what I'm talking about?:lol:

Alicia

Could be floaters, could be mild high blood pressure. No need to panic, but talk to your doc.

[Amber Wynd]

Yeah, Billy's advice is good. I experienced a time when I was seeing more of these things than normal and my eye dr said it was the onset of glaucoma, which scared the crap out of me. And as soon as he said it, I was seeing more and more of them. I finally went to my family dr and he said everybody see these floatersfrom time to time, and said he thought my problem was stress-induced. That the stress was raising my blood pressure, which explains why freaking out over the prospect of glaucoma made it worse. Once we dealt with the stress, this went away. He also said it could be due to eye strain from too much reading and/or computer time. There are lots of possible reasons and it's always good to get a professional opinion, if only to set your mind at ease.

[LordHelmet]

lets see we have the translucient cheerios, (I assume that's the floaters) I see them. Those are the ones that are cauused by the blood vessels in the back of the eye, these are more easily seen on white backgrounds or with good lighting. I would thing some of these are also in the retina.

We have the things explosive anomalies that you see when you close your eyes, these are generated by the seeier thingy's in your eye. you can get a strong and solid one if you look at a light scorce and look away or close your eyes.

Now all this is seen with the eye. These are not spirits ... or fairys or whatever.

Auras I think do exist within the physical (mundane) realm, but they still cannot be seen with the physical eye, nor can anything astral.

I can see some astral figures but I never see them with my physical eyes.