New Guidelines to Prevent Visually Provoked Seizures

Trauma is one of the leading causes of epilepsy and visually provoked seizures caused by bright lights, flashing images and certain patterns on television, video games and computers are a frequent cause of repeat seizure activity.

The Epilepsy Foundation today issued new recommendations for families on how to limit the risk of seizures triggered by visual stimulation.  The recommendations based upon guidelines in the United Kingdom and in Japan are the first U.S. published standards to limit the effects of photo sensitivity and epilepsy or seizure disorder.

The consensus recommendations, which are published in full on the Epilepsy Foundation website, cover factors such as light intensity, flicker, contrast, duration and patters as well as technical parameters. 

Doctors who treat persons with epilepsy and seizure disorder have noticed an increase in the number of young persons who seek assistance  and report seizures occurring after video stimulation.  The Epilepsy Foundation has been monitoring this trend and believes that visual stimulation is a national health problem.

The Epilepsy Task Force on Photo sensitivity reports that children and young adults 7 to 19 years of age are the most susceptible to visually induced seizures. 

More information is available on the Epilepsy Foundation website .