Myths & Claims
Claim: “Flashing lights are the main trigger for epilepsy.”
Verdict: misleading. Photosensitivity is real, but it affects only a minority of people with epilepsy. Many people are not sensitive to flashing or patterned visual stimuli at all.
Why the myth survives
Television warnings and public awareness campaigns have made flashing lights one of the most recognisable epilepsy triggers. That visibility can make it seem universal when it is not.
What photosensitivity actually means
Photosensitive epilepsy describes seizures provoked by specific visual stimuli such as flashing lights or certain repetitive patterns. Risk varies with flash frequency, contrast, brightness, distance, viewing conditions and the individual.
Epilepsy Action notes that photosensitive epilepsy is uncommon overall and is more frequent in some generalised epilepsy syndromes and younger people.
Other triggers are often more relevant
For many people, lack of sleep, missed medication, alcohol, illness, hormonal changes or stress may be more relevant seizure precipitants than visual stimuli. Triggers are individual and do not cause epilepsy itself.
Sources
Epilepsy Action — Photosensitive epilepsy
Photosensitivity & Reflex Epilepsies