Do you have narrow eye arteries?

A new study (out last month) show that migraineurs tend to have abnormal arteries in their eyes.  Don’t you love being called abnormal?  We’re specifically talking about arterioles in the retina, which are a specific type of thin walled artery.  The abnormality was that the arterioles were narrower in those with migraine, specifically migraine without aura.

This is interesting on a number of levels.  First, it shows another difference between migraine with and migraine without aura.  Migraine with aura tends to get most of the attention, so it’s nice to see research on the other side.  Second, it may relate to some of the specific eye pain migraineurs feel.  Third, it may show a relationship between migraine and microvascular disease.  Blockages and damages in these tiny blood vessels are very difficult to detect, but they can cause real problems.

The researchers (Dr. Gerald Liew and colleagues from the University of Sydney) double checked and confirmed that this abnormality doesn’t seem to be because of age, but it does seem to be related to migraine history.  Check the story at Eye artery narrowing seen in migraine.