By Iris Moya
The “Green Light” To Migraine ReliefCould green light be the solution to migraine pain? According to Rami Burstein, PHD; Vice Chair of Research in the Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine and Academic Director of the Comprehensive headache Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in Boston; it just might be. In a study that was published in the May 2016 edition of Brain, migraine sufferers were exposed to a narrow band of green light and found that it significantly reduced photophobia and reduced the severity and pain of patient’s headaches. His research also discovered that neurons in the thalamus (the area of the brain that transmits light from the eye to the cortex) were found to be least responsive to green light, explaining why the migraine brain responds favorably to the green light.
These findings offer hope to patients with migraines. This discovery might lead to sunglasses specifically designed to block all but green light to ease migraine pain. Burstein says he is working with several companies to develop lenses and light-boxes that would let people mainly get the green wavelength. These products; which will be available in about a year or two, will provide relief to the estimated 36 million Americans who suffer from migraines.
