Optical Migraine

Optical migraine is also known as acephalgic or amigrainous migraine.

In an optical migraine the symptoms are mainly optical,and include all the usual aural symptoms,including spots and zigzag lines, blind spots or flashing lights, a halo around objects or color changes.

In addition other senses may be affected. For instance a typical smell may seem to be present, or there may be a tingling sensation in a limb. In severe cases nausea, photophobia (a desire to avoid bright light) or even hemiparesis (lack of ability to move one side of the body ) may appear.

However, there is no headache, and for this reason optical migraine is also called "aura without migraine". Because there is no headache,treatment is usually less intensive than for other migraines, and usually the symptoms last for an hour or less.

One unfortunate fact is that people who suffer from optical migraine have an increased risk of suffering from classical migraine in the future.