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Medical Student Shows How People With Certain Medical Conditions See (19 Pics)
Medicinal progress is one of the best things that has happened to us. From the invention of antibiotics to organ transplants, from vaccination to new artificial intelligence techniques changing the ways we spot, examine and cure diseases, it has been making us live longer and healthier.
No wonder medicine has captured our imagination, fueling pop culture with shows like Grey’s Anatomy and making us reevaluate how much we know and don't know about some medical conditions. And Kelvin Fiagbe, a Ghana-based medical student and video creator, has a lot to say about the topic!
Kelvin has been creating educational videos on the most fascinating medical facts and explaining mysterious conditions to his 476K TikTok followers. Recently, he made a whole video series showing how people see with various medical conditions, such as diabetic retinopathy or glaucoma.
@med_kelvin How people see ##medical ##medicine ##medicineexplained ##education ##learnontiktok ##edutok ##glaucoma
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I don't find it that very desciptive of how it is to experience an aura. I think a more precise description would be to imagine looking at a very colourfull patcwork under stong sunlight for a minute or two. The aura acts like the "after-image" on your retina being superimposed on what you see. It is kind of there and not there at the same time, and not something stationary you can focus on. Another peculiar phenomenom is that your periferal vision just vanishes at the same time. It does not go black, it just does no longer exist. It is like the way you cannot see what is behind your head, but you do not see your head as a black obstacle, that part of the world is just simply not seen.
Bored Panda reached out to Kelvin Fiagbe, the creator of these medical videos that are going viral on TikTok, to find out more about him. Kelvin is a 2nd year physician assistantship student in Ghana.
“I joined TikTok in May 2020. I started with comedy and found out that it wasn't really for me,” he recounted. “So I switched to medical content since I'm already in the medical field. I make medicine-related videos, from rare conditions to how people see, to guessing the name of the medical equipment.”
"Oh, squiggly line in my eye fluid. I see you lurking there on the periphery of my vision. But when I try to look at you, you scurry away. Are you shy, squiggly line? Why only when I ignore you, do you return to the center of my eye? Oh, squiggly line, it's alright, you are forgiven."
as someone that has this one... i'm not sure if the inset is the full color, or the skewed one
Kelvin said he’s been interested in medicine for as long as he remembers. “I used to have a first aid kit at home and usually play with it. But I realized that in medicine, I can actually help so many people and that makes me happy.”
When asked what rare medical condition fascinates him the most, Kelvin said it’s mirror-touch synesthesia. “Imagine feeling what other people feel just by seeing them, but there are many more.” Turns out, he learns these interesting facts from the medical shows that he likes so much as well as studying them in class.
The TikTok creator also said that he’s really glad to be able to “give people value and educate them every day.”
For all the people saying that this is cute, maybe it adds nice aesthetic to one picture, but would you really want live you life seeing this the entire time??
According to the Centers For Disease Control And Prevention, more than 4.2 million Americans aged 40 years and older are either legally blind or have low vision. The leading causes of blindness and low vision in the US are primarily age-related eye diseases. These include macular degeneration, cataract, diabetic retinopathy, and glaucoma, amblyopia and strabismus.
Refractive errors are the most common vision impairment in the US that makes it hard for a person to see clearly. It’s estimated that there are more than 150 million Americans with the condition. Reflective errors happen when the shape of your eye keeps light from focusing correctly on your retina (a light-sensitive layer of tissue in the back of your eye).
Other common eyesight conditions include cataract, which is a clouding of the eye’s lens and is the leading cause of blindness worldwide, and the leading cause of vision loss in the US. They can occur at any age and in some cases can be present since birth.
I have this and it gets worse if i'm tired or have a fibro flare up. Looking at anything with close stripes is a nightmare and really hurts my head and eyes. Sometimes the edges of things look like they have faint motion lines like you would see in a cartoon when something is drawn to look like it's shaking.
Diabetic retinopathy (DR), which you’ve seen in the video, is the condition that results from a common complication of diabetes. It progressively damages the blood vessels of the retina, the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye that is necessary for good vision. DR usually affects both eyes.
Sheldon kind of explained it perfectly. The things that bother him sensory wise is like an itchy sweater on your brain that you can't scratch and can't ignore.
I have visual snow (found out after talking to my eye doctor this year and she said it was my brain and not my eyes). Mine doesn't quite look like that, think an out of tune tube TV. Where you can see the show and the color but there is static everywhere. It makes it really hard to see in the dark too. If you're curious about it look it up, it's crazy how uncommon it is.
Glaucoma is another common group of diseases characterized by damage to the eye’s optic nerve, which occurs when the normal fluid pressure inside the eyes slowly rises. However, recent findings now show that glaucoma can occur with normal eye pressure. It can lead to severe vision loss and blindness.
It's not like that though... (don't have it but I know about it). It's just that they don't notice/remember the subtle differences that make a face stand out from others.
apparently some people cannot see others' features at all
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I have that (diagnosed), but it's not like that to me. I see eyes and noses and mouths... But everyone looks the same. I can't even pick my family members out in a photograph. I tell people apart by height, hair color, and most especially their voice. With everyone wearing masks, I can identify people with the same accuracy as without. The best part is: because of the masks, people automatically identify themselves, because they expect that you can't tell who they are.
I can see the faces I just can't recognise them very well. It's easier if i have context, such as expecting to see a person in a certain place but I mainly recognise people by their voices. other clues help too like height and build or hairstyle and colour and clothes, glasses etc.
I need about 2 to 3 weeks of seeing someone on the daily before I can recognise them. If I *really* need to remember someone, I try to find a picture of them online so I can stare at it in peace until I can remember. It's SO embarrassing!
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omg that's not what it looks like! That would be totally creepy. Imagine talking to a head with just skin and hair :-D :-D It's not like we live in a horror movie; it's just that we can't recognise people, or it takes us a much longer time to recognise them. I usually focus on people's hairstyle. Or shoes. I used to focus on people's clothing but then when they took off their hoodie or something during the day, I didn't know who it was anymore so that didn't work. I remember when I was in kindergarten, I thought it was normal for a lot of other children to come in threes or fours, don't even remember at what age I figured out they were all different children.
A group photo where everyone is photo shopped to have the same face would be a better example.
Hmm. I don't recognize faces, but I think it's because I don't care and Asperger's causes me to not make eye contact, so I never look at a face. But I will notice the hell out of your shoes and clothes.
Haven't experienced it myself, but I can imagine that many people has experienced it to a lesser degree being in country with inhabitans very different to our own. You can see all the features of faces perfectly well, but they all look the same to you and you cannot destinguise between them, just like you could not immediately tell which chicken is which in a flok with ten of them. Since face reconision is so important to humans, we have a special part of your brain that is dedicated to this task. That explain why we are so sensetive to faces that we even see them where they do not exist, like in the front of a car or a mountain on Mars. Being able to reconise hundreds of faces for several years is rather amazing feat when you think about it, but it requires some training. That is why after some time a european person no longer thinks all chinese looks the same as he learns to distingues between the types of asian features -though they all looked the same in the beginning.
I have face blindness, and it's nothing like this. I can see faces as well as anything else. It just seems as if everyone I see is a stranger, even if I know them pretty well. Here's an example, from before I knew about face blindness. I had been at my job for 7 years, and had decided to get a short haircut. I made sure I told everyone in my office that I was getting my hair cut, because I thought that no one would recognize me the next day otherwise. I wouldn't. I recognize my family, and people I am very close to, but otherwise, not a clue. I try to memorize certain specific things to remember people - hair color and style, height, a birthmark, a gap in the teeth, etc... Makes for some interesting experiences. I can't tell you how many times I have had a long conversation with someone, without knowing who they were. I am also autistic, and face blindness is more common in autistic folks.
Dr. Oliver Sacks wrote about 2 groups of patients. One group couldn't recognize facial expressions but understood speech tones, the other didn't catch verbal inflections speech but could read body language.. They were watching Ronald Reagan on TV, and both groups were laughing "He's lying!"
Y'all, they're not unable to see facial features WHATSOEVER! They just can't distinguish between different people's facial features easily, or sometimes at all. So many of the images in this thread are ridiculous!
For those of you who have this - can you recognize someone as pretty or handsome? Or because it is a generic face everyone is equally attractive?
I can tell if someone is pretty or handsome pretty much like everyone else. I see faces fine, I just don't recognize them. It's not that all faces look exactly the same, it's more like everyone I meet is a stranger, even if I have known them for a long time.
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is it scary for you with this disorder at times? or is it just your normal?
More annoying than anything. Sometimes I will see someone, they will start a conversation, and I have to try to figure out from the context who they are. Sometimes, it feel like a, "tip of the tongue," thing, I think I know them, but can't determine how. I also have to be careful to explain, because when I don't recognize someone I should, they tend to get offended.
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This is how everyone looks when I take off my glasses, only not just the face!
I have this. It's why I prefer serial TV to movies, especially if the movie has a lot of people in the same gender/age/ethnicity range. Like if there are three 20-something blonde girls, by the time I figure out who is who and can recognize them consistently, the movie is over. I tend to rely on voices to distinguish characters. I mean, I SEE them, but then in the next scene, I am asking "wait, is this the guy who was at the car shop or the guy from the bank?"
I simply don't recognize most people until they speak around me, no matter how well I know them. I just don't remember faces. After they speak, I will quickly look at their clothing so that I can remember who they are. This makes formal occasions extremely challenging.
My 4th-grade teacher had prosopagnosia, so she would identify us by our voices.
I never knew this condition existed. I think those of us with great sight, sometimes take it for granted.
I have visual snow, and I guess it's different for everyone because the first two pictures with the ripples I don't see, but the third picture it pretty much what I see.
sheesh I didn't realise this was a thing, I thought I was just broken
Not saying that it would be cool to always see like this, but the first picture actually looks nice.
More like Glaucoma that wasn't controlled and killed that person's peripheral vision. I was diagnosed with it over 20 years ago and other than being nearsighted, I see fine.
A lot of this post is exaggerated or completely incorrect. It feels like this person did a quick wikipedia search, read one paragraph, then posted. Also, a lot these very from person to person. I'm sure any medical professional would look at this and scoff.
Yes, but it's being nicely completed and corrected by panda friends, adding very interesting comments.
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Nothing for Scotoma? This is loss of vision in a part of the visual field or blind spot. I guess that we don't see the world any differently, because your brain makes up for the missing piece. You need to keep moving your eyes, otherwise the "made up" image gets stale and you miss things. For example when I am tired, I will sometimes walk into door frames because I forget to move my eyes and misjudge where they are.
I have astigmatism iirc and for me the picture for it was quite exaggarted. Stuff does get slightly distorted and blurry but it's nowhere near this level (for me not everyone)
I second your description, Cloudy Puff. Did you happen to see a different BP article that showed the "light lines" people with astigmatism get? Apparently not knowing was bothering my subconscious and I didn't even realise. There was surprising sense of relief that it actually is a known phenomenon and it has an explanation https://www.boredpanda.com/with-without-astigmatism-vision-comparison/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic
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There isn't a condition called legally blind. The loss of or lack of clear visual acuity can be caused by many different things. Most of these things are correctable with glasses and or surgery. However, if you cannot be corrected better than 20/200 or if your field of vision is less than 20 degrees then you are legally blind from a US disability definition standpoint. That will look very different in each case.
Thank you! I have commented on a few different posts and websites trying to explain this (mostly where people say stuff like "legally blind? They shouldn't be allowed to this or that" Legally blind does not mean they're blind as a bat (also bats aren't blind, they have very good vision actually, but that's a different story)
Load More Replies... I have astigmatism, nystagmus, amblyopia, double vision and i get migraine aura's. I only read online articles on my desktop pc with a large very bright monitor screen with a 150% zoom at around a 14 or 15 inch distance. I can see them pretty well with this setup but i'm lost if I try to view them on a phone or tablet without zooming right in and with brightness turned up to maximum and my hand blocking out any screen reflection.
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No. I have astigmatism and don't see distorted images. I have floaters, they are very hard to see, I have to shut my eyes to notice them. My son has deuteranopia and it's not that extreme, it's quite mild, yes he can see red and green. My brother is legally blind, he can use a computer and cellphone, he sees clearly in the small spots that he has left. I also have myopia, no it does NOT look like that, every ting is clear except a long way away and they just have fuzzy edges, not some big blur of nothingness. Who the hell wrote this????
The article didn't say it was the exact same for everyone. This is to get the gist, for all-seers to basically get some idea of what it looks like for most people with this or that condition. The majority with a certain condition will see this/that or something similar. It's not an exact science. It could be different for him, for her, for you, for god knows who, but it does give a good idea of what certain vision impairments (might) look like Personally I think they did very well on this article. They did the research and to the best of their abilities showed what certain conditions might look like
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So far in my life I have had personal experience with astygmatism, extreme myopia, visual snow, scintillating scotomas (the migraine auras), a detached retina (it looks somewhat like the diabetic retinopathy, except the black spots start at the utmost periphery of your visual field and slowly creep inwards), double vision after the surgery that followed and now cataract in the eye that was operated upon, also as a result. And different kinds of floaters. I wonder whether there is some kind of trophy I could be eligible for.
Is it just me or was this very scary for someone that doesn't have any of these conditions? I can't begin to imagine how terrible this must be for someone.
My sister has 10% vision, so she's had to use workarounds. My mother was pretty determined to make her succeed in school. She instructed her to explain her needs to the teacher at the beginning of the school year (such as sitting at the front, being allowed to leave her desk to get closer to the blackboard, etc.), and that in exchange for accommodation, she should work hard.
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My second cousin's wife has a condition called Achromatopsia where she can only see in black and white and shades of grey. No colour at all whatsoever. Her whole life looks like an old black and white movie.
there used to be a great site where you could tweak various sliders and add shapes or lines to a photo to help simulate exactly what you see in various situations (night driving, bright sunlight, etc), and then you could share it with an eye doctor or other medical person. a lot of it was more accurate than the stuff here, but i did learn some stuff here!
They forgot Retina Pigmentosa. Horrible horrible degenrative loss of peripheral vision and night blindness.
Has anyone had an Ocular Migraine? My first was very scary. I was at work and out of nowhere my vision felt off. A few minutes later. Basically saw kaleidoscope and twinkly lights in my line of vision. I had someone drive me to eye doctor right away. The Doctor told me what it was. And it’s nothing to worry about. I have had several over the years. They usually last 20-30 minutes for me. And most of the time no headache afterwards. However super scary the first time it happens. And not knowing what it is.
Where's "weird RGB dots that fly towards your face when you're in the dark"?
These are all WAY off base, and this post should really be removed, as too many folks are believing this bull crap! 🤦🏽♀️
Probably not 1%, but I'm one of the few who sneeze when looking at the sun (or a bright lamp, or when something feels different in my nose, of when I brush my hair and a single hair or small strand gets stuck in the brush). Also I saw a few redheads, Green eyed redhead here, They say it's so rare, but I've spent many a night at the bar with whole groups of greeneyed redheads (no, seriously, like 3, 4, 5, 6 of us all together and no, we do not live in Ireland). . . Edit: I have no proof of this, honestly don't know if I could even get it and I only recently learned this is a thing. I don't break any bones. I don't know what the condition if called, but apparently a select few never break a bone. Yea, I am one of those. Had plenty break-worthy accidents, never broke so much as a pinky toe
A lot of this post is exaggerated or completely incorrect. It feels like this person did a quick wikipedia search, read one paragraph, then posted. Also, a lot these very from person to person. I'm sure any medical professional would look at this and scoff.
Yes, but it's being nicely completed and corrected by panda friends, adding very interesting comments.
Load More Replies... Nothing for Scotoma? This is loss of vision in a part of the visual field or blind spot. I guess that we don't see the world any differently, because your brain makes up for the missing piece. You need to keep moving your eyes, otherwise the "made up" image gets stale and you miss things. For example when I am tired, I will sometimes walk into door frames because I forget to move my eyes and misjudge where they are.
I have astigmatism iirc and for me the picture for it was quite exaggarted. Stuff does get slightly distorted and blurry but it's nowhere near this level (for me not everyone)
I second your description, Cloudy Puff. Did you happen to see a different BP article that showed the "light lines" people with astigmatism get? Apparently not knowing was bothering my subconscious and I didn't even realise. There was surprising sense of relief that it actually is a known phenomenon and it has an explanation https://www.boredpanda.com/with-without-astigmatism-vision-comparison/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic
Load More Replies... There isn't a condition called legally blind. The loss of or lack of clear visual acuity can be caused by many different things. Most of these things are correctable with glasses and or surgery. However, if you cannot be corrected better than 20/200 or if your field of vision is less than 20 degrees then you are legally blind from a US disability definition standpoint. That will look very different in each case.
Thank you! I have commented on a few different posts and websites trying to explain this (mostly where people say stuff like "legally blind? They shouldn't be allowed to this or that" Legally blind does not mean they're blind as a bat (also bats aren't blind, they have very good vision actually, but that's a different story)
Load More Replies... I have astigmatism, nystagmus, amblyopia, double vision and i get migraine aura's. I only read online articles on my desktop pc with a large very bright monitor screen with a 150% zoom at around a 14 or 15 inch distance. I can see them pretty well with this setup but i'm lost if I try to view them on a phone or tablet without zooming right in and with brightness turned up to maximum and my hand blocking out any screen reflection.
Load More Replies... No. I have astigmatism and don't see distorted images. I have floaters, they are very hard to see, I have to shut my eyes to notice them. My son has deuteranopia and it's not that extreme, it's quite mild, yes he can see red and green. My brother is legally blind, he can use a computer and cellphone, he sees clearly in the small spots that he has left. I also have myopia, no it does NOT look like that, every ting is clear except a long way away and they just have fuzzy edges, not some big blur of nothingness. Who the hell wrote this????
The article didn't say it was the exact same for everyone. This is to get the gist, for all-seers to basically get some idea of what it looks like for most people with this or that condition. The majority with a certain condition will see this/that or something similar. It's not an exact science. It could be different for him, for her, for you, for god knows who, but it does give a good idea of what certain vision impairments (might) look like Personally I think they did very well on this article. They did the research and to the best of their abilities showed what certain conditions might look like
Load More Replies... So far in my life I have had personal experience with astygmatism, extreme myopia, visual snow, scintillating scotomas (the migraine auras), a detached retina (it looks somewhat like the diabetic retinopathy, except the black spots start at the utmost periphery of your visual field and slowly creep inwards), double vision after the surgery that followed and now cataract in the eye that was operated upon, also as a result. And different kinds of floaters. I wonder whether there is some kind of trophy I could be eligible for.
Is it just me or was this very scary for someone that doesn't have any of these conditions? I can't begin to imagine how terrible this must be for someone.
My sister has 10% vision, so she's had to use workarounds. My mother was pretty determined to make her succeed in school. She instructed her to explain her needs to the teacher at the beginning of the school year (such as sitting at the front, being allowed to leave her desk to get closer to the blackboard, etc.), and that in exchange for accommodation, she should work hard.
Load More Replies... My second cousin's wife has a condition called Achromatopsia where she can only see in black and white and shades of grey. No colour at all whatsoever. Her whole life looks like an old black and white movie.
there used to be a great site where you could tweak various sliders and add shapes or lines to a photo to help simulate exactly what you see in various situations (night driving, bright sunlight, etc), and then you could share it with an eye doctor or other medical person. a lot of it was more accurate than the stuff here, but i did learn some stuff here!
They forgot Retina Pigmentosa. Horrible horrible degenrative loss of peripheral vision and night blindness.
Has anyone had an Ocular Migraine? My first was very scary. I was at work and out of nowhere my vision felt off. A few minutes later. Basically saw kaleidoscope and twinkly lights in my line of vision. I had someone drive me to eye doctor right away. The Doctor told me what it was. And it’s nothing to worry about. I have had several over the years. They usually last 20-30 minutes for me. And most of the time no headache afterwards. However super scary the first time it happens. And not knowing what it is.
Where's "weird RGB dots that fly towards your face when you're in the dark"?
These are all WAY off base, and this post should really be removed, as too many folks are believing this bull crap! 🤦🏽♀️
Probably not 1%, but I'm one of the few who sneeze when looking at the sun (or a bright lamp, or when something feels different in my nose, of when I brush my hair and a single hair or small strand gets stuck in the brush). Also I saw a few redheads, Green eyed redhead here, They say it's so rare, but I've spent many a night at the bar with whole groups of greeneyed redheads (no, seriously, like 3, 4, 5, 6 of us all together and no, we do not live in Ireland). . . Edit: I have no proof of this, honestly don't know if I could even get it and I only recently learned this is a thing. I don't break any bones. I don't know what the condition if called, but apparently a select few never break a bone. Yea, I am one of those. Had plenty break-worthy accidents, never broke so much as a pinky toe
