Ocular Migraine Symptoms and Diagnosis

In 50% of cases, ocular migraines cause temporary but complete vision loss in one eye. In the other half of cases, ocular migraines can cause vision disturbances such as:

Ocular migraines are usually brief, lasting less than five minutes. However, they can last up to 30 minutes. Forty-one percent of people have a headache during the vision loss. Twenty-five percent have it before or after.

If you get to the doctor during an ocular migraine, he or she will be able to see the decreased blood flow in your eye with a device called a fundoscope. However, since ocular migraines are fairly brief, it’s more likely that you will be diagnosed based on your symptoms.

The symptoms of ocular migraines are similar to those of other serious disorders, such as eye diseases and stroke. So your doctor will want to do a thorough evaluation. If you have any of the risk factors below, your doctor may run additional tests to rule out more serious conditions:

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