For a lot of who expertise migraine, sure sorts of gentle can set off a painful episode. In an effort to get forward of this, researchers have begun growing glasses that block these troublesome wavelengths earlier than they attain the eyes.
Two varieties present promise in decreasing migraine signs. The most typical of those lenses, invented within the Eighties by Arnold Wilkins, PhD, is the fluorescent 41 (FL-41). It filters blue and inexperienced gentle, which prevents them from reaching the cornea, the place they’ll activate the trigeminal nerve and spark an assault.
“If that trigeminal pathway is primed for migraine, it’s nearly like … your nerve endings are typically hyperexcitable [and] completely different wavelengths of sunshine can set off a migraine assault,” explains neuro-ophthalmologist Rudrani Banik, MD, in a 2020 podforged for the Affiliation of Migraine Issues.
In a examine printed in Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Ache, researchers discovered that FL-41 lenses diminished the frequency of migraine assaults in youngsters by greater than half, although they weren’t efficient throughout an precise assault. Different research have advised the lenses cut back the impression of the episodes.
Newer analysis touts the advantages of sure “blue lower” glasses, which filter blue gentle. In a 2022 examine with 10 members, these lenses appeared to scale back the frequency of headache days.
Regardless of the small pattern, the authors concluded that the blue lower glasses supply “a easy and efficient response to migraine photosensitivity.”
Migraine glasses are usually not sometimes lined by insurance coverage, so those that have an interest might wish to seek the advice of with an ophthalmologist prior to selecting a specific mannequin.
This text initially appeared as “An Eyewear Answer for Migraine” within the Might/June 2025 problem of Expertise Life.
