Ocular migraine symptoms and causes

Sunday, November 22nd, 2009 at 6:05 pm Post in Eye Diseases

Also called ophthalmic or eye migraines, ocular migraines are common and usually painless. They may cause various visual problems such as visual disturbances and the appearance of a small, enlarging blind spot in your central vision. Inside the spot, there are flicking lights or a shimmering zigzag line. During the process of ocular migraines, the spot enlarges and may move across your visual field. This process lasts from several minutes to 30 minutes.

Certain triggers such as hormonal changes, flashing lights or chemicals in foods or medications can cause the body’s neurological responses, producing migraines. Ocular migraines are associated with blood flow changes in the brain, so that their processes are usually accompanies by changes in visual cortex or occipital lobe of the brain in the back skull. In fact, these visual symptoms accompanying painless ocular migraines just result from the migraine activity in the visual cortex.

People’s vision and visual acuity will be significantly affected during the process of ocular migraines, so that they may be forced to stop their current work and stay still until the ocular migraine resolves. People experienced ocular migraines may ask about the way to treat or prevent them. Normal ocular migraines require no treatment. But once you suffer from visual disturbances frequently, medications even in extended period are needed to reduce their recurrence. And you should also know that unusual vision symptoms can also be caused by detached retina, which requires serious treatments.