Apr 16, 2018 - comments
This material is from the April 1, 2018 issue of Ophthalmology Times medical newsletter. The title of the article is "Migraine Pain More Than A Headache" and is based on The Hoyt Lecture given at the 2017 meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology by Kathleen B. Digre, MD a neuro-ophthalmologist from University of Utah.
Patients with various forms of migraine have an increased incidence of "visual snow". NOTE VIP: "The proposed criteria for visual snow that were developed include: dynamic, continuous dots in the visual field for at least three months and the presence of at least two other visual phenomena and palinopsia, enhanced entoptic phenomenon, and at least one of the following: excessive floaters, or 'self-light of the eye' or photopsia, photophobia and nyctalopia.
As many as 59% of migrane patients may have visual snow. And 87% of visual snow patients have some problem with headaches. 25% of people have had visual snow since childhood.
Treatment is often not necessary as many people learn to ignore the symptoms. Medications that sometimes help: lamotrigine, nortriptyline,carbamazepine and sertraline. Sometimes glasses with blue/yellow filters or FL-41 spectrum filters are helpful. The complete article might be available for viewing on the Ophthalmology Times website previous issues this is Volume 43 #6 4/1/18
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