Ocular migraineWhat's an ocular migraine? How does it differ from a typical migraine? And what can you do about it? Migraine symptoms can be disturbing and frightening, especially if As you may know, a typical migraine isn't all that typical. Many people don't realize that migraine often doesn't involve a headache at all, but a host of other symptoms that may be less painful but can be just as disturbing. SymptomsAn ocular migraine can affect different arteries, and so the symptoms can vary. The disturbance is usually quite temporary, sometimes lasting less than an hour. During an attack, you can go blind in one eye, or have various visual diturbances in both eyes. Retinal migraine causes partial blindness, ocular total blindness (though sometimes both types are just called ocular). A disturbance or blindness in the eye is scotoma, and various kinds of scotoma are common precursors to a migraine headache. Double vision may also be a sign of ocular migraine. Other visual disturbances are explained in the article on migraine auras. You can also check out this article on migraine by Doctor Randolph W. Evans at WebMD.A headache is sometimes part of the attack. It can happen before or during the episode of blindness, but most often it comes after the eye issues. Like many types of migraine, ocular migraine attacks usually come repeatedly, though not usually in a recognizable pattern. You could go weeks or even years between attacks, and then get several in a couple of weeks. 
CauseAs with any type of migraine, the cause is not fully understood. Staff at the Mayo Clinic wrote the following on the 19th of May 2005: The cause of ocular migraines isn't clearly understood. But they're thought to be due to abnormal stimulation of nerve cells (neurons) at the back of the brain. We know that migraine relates to neurological activity affecting blood vessels, but we're still learning how it all works. Ocular migraine does seem to affect some blood vessels more than others in different people.Treatment and cautionsMost often, no treatment is even prescribed. The problem is only temporary. However, if the pain is intense your doctor may prescribe painkillers. Depending on the diagnosis, various migraine drugs may be helpful.Be aware that symptoms like these could be a sign of a serious problem besides migraine itself. Be sure to check with your doctor to get a proper diagnosis. For example, Drs William B Young and Stephen B Silberstein point out in Migraine and Other Headaches that blindness can be a symptom of dissection, the rupturing of the lining of a blood vessel, as well as migraine. Read another summary of ocular migraine at the Mayo Clinic.
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