Retinal Migraine: Evaluation and Management

Purpose of Review This review aims to summarize the last 15 years of literature and case reports detailing retinal migraine-an uncommon and somewhat poorly understood migraine variant. Recent Findings In the last 15 years, only 12 cases of retinal migraine have been outlined. Similar to other migraine statistics, retinal migraine appears to affect women more so than men and presents with unilateral headache which tends to be ipsilateral to the side of vision loss. The pathophysiology may relate to vasoconstriction of retinal vessels, as evidenced by ictal fundus photography in the past few years. Summary Retinal migraine is a rare entity, with a paucity of described cases in the literature. Retinal migraine is a diagnosis of exclusion, as monocular vision loss might be ascribed to several concerning disorders requiring urgent diagnosis and treatment, and any patient presenting as such should be thoroughly investigated. Patients suffering from retinal migraine appear to respond to typical migraine abortive therapies including NSAIDs and migraine prophylactic medications.

Automated summary

This review summarizes the literature and case reports on retinal migraine over the past 15 years, finding it to be a rare and predominantly female migraine variant possibly related to retinal vessel constriction. Diagnosis of retinal migraine should be exclusionary, and patients with this condition seem to respond well to typical migraine treatments.