Coloured Lenses Might Assist Some Migraine Sufferers

Sensitivity to patterns, fluorescent lights, busy shopping aisles, and discomfort with print are a group of symptoms that often occur together. Sufferers often have a personal history of migraine or there is a history of migraine in the family. The condition is known alternatively as Visual Discomfort or Visual Stress and is probably related to what was once known as Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome or Irlen Syndrome.  Coloured lenses were found to improve comfort with print and therefore were popularised as a “cure” for reading issues. Our clinical experience is that sufferers often have undiagnosed focussing and convergence issues, and if present, then resolving these issues through regular glasses or vision therapy should be considered first.  Given these results, we were quite skeptical about the use of coloured lenses.

However, there is a small population of people who have no focusssing or convergence issues, or whose symptoms were not completely eliminated with conventional treatment.  Family history of migraine seemed to feature highly in the background of these patients so we invesigated the use of coloured lenses to further assist comfort.  To avoid the unnecessary use of colour, we do a detailed examination and rule out or treat vision problems first.  We then assess suitable patients on the Intuitive Colorimeter, which is currently the most precise way to measure and prescribe colour tints when compared to other methods.  So it is pleasing to see research supporting what we were noticing clinically. http://www.mivision.com.au/tinted-lenses-reduce-migraines/