Photic sneeze reflex spurs light-induced sneezes in 10 to 30 percent of people.“They were really appreciative, so I’ve been allowed to keep doing that for the last couple of months,” she said. “Some of the most important advancements in medicine come from not being focused on medicine at all.”
“If we knew one or more genes that cause photic sneeze reflex, I don’t doubt that that might teach us fundamental things about reflex disorders like epilepsy,” he said. Ptáček thinks taking a closer look at photic sneeze reflex could reveal important insights on other diseases. From personal experience, I can attest that sneezing after driving out of a dark tunnel at 60 miles an hour can be - at least temporarily - frightening. Case studies suggest high-wire acrobats, baseball outfielders and combat pilots may be adversely impacted. But the triple threat of bright light-induced temporary blindness, an induced sneeze and subsequent eyelid closure could be threatening under special circumstances. In most cases, sneezes summoned by sudden changes in light are relatively harmless. “If we knew one or more genes that cause photic sneeze reflex, I don’t doubt that that might teach us fundamental things about reflex disorders like epilepsy.” The most prevalent theory postulates that neurological signals are crossed between the trigeminal nerve, which senses facial sensations like an itchy nose, and the optic nerve, which constricts the eye’s pupils when light penetrates the retina.īut large, in-depth studies on this or other theories are lacking, with most photic sneeze reflex research based on small case studies of single families or small groups of photic sneezers.
#Staring at the sun photography skin
“Dust or black pepper particles in the nose, for example, irritate the mucosa and leads to a sneeze reflex to prevent you being hurt by a noxious environment.”īut why did evolution decide for some of us to sneeze when accosted by bright light? Is it a forceful warning to keep my pale, Scottish skin from the sun’s burning rays? (Answer: Likely, no.) “When we sneeze, there is a huge contraction of the diaphragm all at once,” Ptáček said. An estimated 40,000 microscopic particles can spew out of the human body - at a rate 85 percent the speed of sound - each time we sneeze. It is a reflex meant to protect the nasal passages and lungs from infectious agents or irritants. Photo by Cultura/Seb Oliver/Getty ImagesĪ regular sneeze is a violent preemptive strike. Photic sneeze reflex is a relatively harmless disorder that causes people to sneeze in bright light after being in a dark space. Because its prevalence is higher in individuals with a family history of the disorder, the handful of scientists who have studied the phenomena suspect a genetic, autosomal dominant - a person needs only one parent with the condition to inherit it. Additionally, a not-yet-established length of time in a darkened space - called a refractory period - must pass before an individual with photic sneeze reflex will sneeze in light again.Īs it turns out, an estimated 10 to 35 percent of the population has a photic sneeze reflex. Sunlight is a trigger, but artificial illumination from light bulbs and camera flashes can also cause sneezes. The disorder is characterized by a sudden outburst of one or multiple sneezes when a dark-adapted person - they’ve been in a darkened space for a while - is suddenly exposed to light. They’ll say, ‘It helps me get a sneeze out.’” “Some people find it annoying, but some people like it to some extent.
“It’s not a disease,” University of California, San Francisco neurologist and human geneticist Louis Ptáček told the NewsHour. An estimated 10 to 35 percent of the population has a photic sneeze reflex.
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