Photosensitive epilepsy is when your seizures are triggered by certain lights or patterns. The seizures usually happen when there is a high contrast between colors. This over stimulates certain parts of your brain, which can cause a seizure.
If you have photosensitive epilepsy, it can cause many different kinds of seizures. However, tonic-clonic seizures are the most common.
Some people with photosensitive epilepsy only ever have seizures when they are exposed to flashing lights or contrasting patterns. But for other people, seizures can be triggered by other things too.
There are many things that can potentially trigger seizures if you have photosensitive epilepsy. These include:
Flashing lights:
- Strobe lighting
- Video games
- Concerts
- Televisions
- Gifs
- Fireworks
Patterns:
- Posters with lots of stripes
- T-shirts designs
- Wallpaper
- Some pieces of art
- Moving escalators
- Certain kinds of architecture
Sunlight:
- Reflections on moving water
- Reflections on screens and windows.
- Light passing through blinds
- Light passing through trains or moving cars