Help For Migraine Sufferers?

New research on precision tinted lenses has claimed they can offer relief to migraine sufferers. The study, which involved a UK-based team, may provide a breakthrough for patients hitherto considered untreatable.
The study published in Cephalalgia (May 26), uses functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) for the first time to suggest a neurological basis for these visual remedies. It shows how coloured glasses, tuned to each migraine sufferer, work by normalising activity in the brain. The researchers saw specific abnormal brain activity - hyperactivation - when migraine sufferers saw intense patterns. The tinted lenses considerably reduced the effect.
Before the brain imaging took place, participants were tested and prescribed precision ophthalmic tints (POTs) with an Intuitive Colorimeter. Previous studies have suggested that some 42% of migraine with aura sufferers saw their migraine frequency halved on days when they wore POTs.
Although patients reported some relief using all of the lenses (by around 40%), the POT lenses had a significant effect when viewing the stressful stripes (70% discomfort reduction). Both control and migraine patients responded similarly to the non-stressful stripe patterns, and in these cases, all three lenses made no difference to the result.