Ten patients with migraine and persistent positive visual phenomena lasting months to years are reported from the University of Pennsylvania, Scheie Eye Institute, the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Miami Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, and the Cleveland Clinic, OH. Ages ranged from 9 to 67 years but visual phenomena were very similar in their simplicity, quality, and involvement of the entire visual field. They consisted of diffuse small particles, such as TV static, snow, lines of ants, dots, and rain. Treatment with various medications was of no benefit. [1]
COMMENT. Visual processing in 12 migraineurs has been studied at the Mass General Hospital [2]. An inherited abnormal threshold to visual stimuli is suggested. The high speed of the migraineur’s brain in discerning a single target in low-level visual tasks is consistent with an oversensitivity to visual stimuli.