About half of initial seizures are induced by watching television. As a result, adults over age 25 who have never had a seizure have about 1 chance in 20,000 of being photosensitive and not knowing it. So for a person who has not had a seizure, the likelihood of being photosensitive varies from 1 in 4000 for children to 1 in 20,000 for adults over 25. The seizure itself is usually harmless, with any injury coming from falling or hitting a hard object, although serious consequences including death are possible in unusual situations. See First Aid for Seizures below.
Epilepsy is a condition characterized by recurrent seizures.
Thus epilepsy is much less common than isolated seizures, and a patient is usually not diagnosed as epileptic until a second seizure. See Treatment of Epilepsy below. If you are in a safe place, seated or lying down, you have some protection from the major cause of injury from a seizure, namely falling and striking a hard object. This assists the relaxation process as well as giving some protection from injury in the unlikely event of a seizure. Treatment of Epilepsy Drugs are available that reduce the frequency of seizures in persons with uncontrolled epilepsy.