Color and Spatial Frequency Are Related to Visual Pattern Sensitivity in Migraine

Abstract

Color, independent of luminance or particular color contrasts, can have therapeutic effects for people with visually triggered migraine as it can reduce the number of perceived illusions when viewing stripes or text. The effect was not color-specific and was greatest for the 12 cpd gratings. Given the significant associations between the achromatic discomfort measures and reports of visual triggers, and the lack of significant associations between the chromatic discomfort measures and reports of visual triggers, further research is recommended to explore the potential to reduce the number of visually triggered migraines with color in addition to alleviating visual discomfort.

Measurement of visual sensitivity in migraine: Validation of two scales and correlation with visual cortex activation

“…More recently, two small studies in migraineurs have used the VDS. The first examined the relationship between color and spatial frequency and visual pattern sensitivity in 12 controls, 12 individuals with MWA, and 12 MwoA patients and found results quite similar to ours, with both migraine subjects showing higher VDS scores compared to headache-free controls, and both MWA and MwoA patients being similar (7). In this cohort, higher VDS correlated with visual migraine triggers, also similar to the results we found, where individuals endorsing light as a migraine trigger had higher VDS.…”

The Visual System in Migraine: From the Bench Side to the Office

“…Precision ophthalmic lenses not only decreased visual discomfort to an extent of 70% (P = .005), but also reduced cortical activation to stressful visual stimuli as measured by fMRI in several extra-striate cortical visual areas (V) such as V2, V3 (P < .01 and P < .005, respectively), V3A, and V4 (P < .01) (paired t-test). This study like others 57 suggests that colored tints can have therapeutic effects in cases with visually triggered migraine.…”

A comparison of the effects of the colour and size of coloured overlays on young children’s reading

“…Printed text is an aggregation of letters in horizontal lines, and the typically high contrast letters on the page, and repeated patterns of letter formations, may create anomalous visual effects, such as illusory colours, shimmering and vertical motions throughout the body of the text. These illusions can be accompanied by somatic reactions, such as nausea, eyestrain, headache and tiredness (Wilkins, 1995;2003;Conlon et al, 1999;Harle et al, 2006;Shepherd et al, 2013). Readers who are affected by these discomforting symptoms may complain about the "blinding whiteness" of the page and the experience of "moving", "tilting" and "blurring" letters and words.…”

“…Readers who are affected by these discomforting symptoms may complain about the "blinding whiteness" of the page and the experience of "moving", "tilting" and "blurring" letters and words. These unpleasant experiences do not indicate problems such as refractive or binocular impairment, but may indicate visual stress, also referred to as visual discomfort or pattern glare (Wilkins et al 1984;Evans et al, 2002;Wilkins, 2003;Shepherd et al, 2013). Indeed, visual stress can occur with normal acuity and normal scores on other standard optometric tests (Evans et al, 2002).…”