Research published in the journal Cephalalgia has confirmed that coloured glasses can significantly benefit people who suffer from migraine as a result of visual stimuli.
Precision tinted lenses have been used widely to reduce visual perceptual distortions in poor readers, and are increasingly used for migraine sufferers, but until now the science behind these effects has been unclear.
However, a group of researchers from Universities in the United States and United Kingdom have used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) for the first time to suggest a neurological basis for these visual remedies.
The new research shows how coloured glasses tuned to each migraine sufferer work by normalising activity in the brain. Researchers saw specific abnormal brain activity (hyperactivation) when migraine sufferers saw intense patterns. The tinted lenses considerably reduced the effect.
The new research shows how coloured glasses tuned to each migraine sufferer work by normalising activity in the brain
Going forward, the authors suggest that the specific characteristic of the cortical activation in the extra-striate visual areas they recorded could provide a potential biomarker for identifying those migraine patients suffering cortical hyperactivation.
This biomarker could prove useful not only for further evaluation of precision ophthalmic tints (POTs) but also for studying the effectiveness of drugs to prevent migraine.