ReviewCephalalgia : an international journal of headache2019
Current understanding of photophobia, visual networks and headaches.
Review in Cephalalgia : an international journal of headache, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 63 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
63 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 96 citations in OpenAlex.
- Network localization of regional intrinsic neural activity alterations in migraine and their neurochemical correlates.Frontiers in neurology · 2026Pooled it
- The chronobiology of migraine: a systematic review.The journal of headache and pain · 2021Pooled it
- Assessing migraine patients with multifocal pupillographic objective perimetry.BMC neurology · 2021Trial
- The Dark Side of Light: Spectral Variation in Post-Traumatic Photosensitivity and Its Functional Sequelae.Brain sciences · 2026Article
- Topography of Photophobia: Perifoveal Sensitivity Associations in Glaucoma.Investigative ophthalmology & visual science · 2026Article
- Shared and Specific Patterns of Brain Functional Network Abnormalities in Patients With Idiopathic Dystonia and Across Subtypes.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2026Article
- Article
- Linking Photophobia, Sleep Disturbances, and Migraine Chronicity: Evidence From a Retrospective Analysis.Brain and behavior · 2026Article
- Altered static-dynamic interhemispheric connectivity and transcriptional features underlying lateralization in patients with migraine.The journal of headache and pain · 2026Article
- Light-aversion and cephalic allodynia in an intravenous CGRP model of migraine-like behaviour in male and female rats.The journal of headache and pain · 2026Article
- Perceptual distortions in PredNet and quantification of top-down/bottom-up flow.Frontiers in computational neuroscience · 2026Article
- Neural signature of chronic migraine mice model and related photophobia in the primary visual cortex.The journal of headache and pain · 2025Article
- Nuclear paraspeckle assembly transcript 1 promotes photophobia behavior in mice via miR-196a-5p/Trpm3 coupling.The journal of headache and pain · 2025Article
- Article
- Limbic system abnormalities in episodic cluster headache: a 7T MRI multimodal study.The journal of headache and pain · 2025Article
- Idiopathic Extracranial Internal Carotid Artery Vasospasm Presenting as Photophobia.Internal medicine (Tokyo, Japan) · 2025Article
- Altered functional network topology and connectivity in female nurses with shift work sleep disorder.Frontiers in systems neuroscience · 2025Article
- The association between vision impairment and multi-site pain in middle-aged and older adults in China: results from the China health and retirement longitudinal study.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Gender-different effect of Src family kinases antagonism on photophobia and trigeminal ganglion activity.The journal of headache and pain · 2024Article
- Hypersensitivity of Intrinsically Photosensitive Retinal Ganglion Cells in Migraine Induces Cortical Spreading Depression.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Article
3 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo review clinical and pre-clinical evidence supporting the role of visual pathways, from the eye to the cortex, in the development of photophobia in headache disorders.
backgroundPhotophobia is a poorly understood light-induced phenomenon that emerges in a variety of neurological and ophthalmological conditions. Over the years, multiple mechanisms have been proposed to explain its causes; however, scarce research and lack of systematic assessment of photophobia in patients has made the search for answers quite challenging. In the field of headaches, significant progress has been made recently on how specific visual networks contribute to photophobia features such as light-induced intensification of headache, increased perception of brightness and visual discomfort, which are frequently experienced by migraineurs. Such progress improved our understanding of the phenomenon and points to abnormal processing of light by both cone/rod-mediated image-forming and melanopsin-mediated non-image-forming visual pathways, and the consequential transfer of photic signals to multiple brain regions involved in sensory, autonomic and emotional regulation.
conclusionPhotophobia phenotype is diverse, and the relative contribution of visual, trigeminal and autonomic systems may depend on the disease it emerges from. In migraine, photophobia could result from photic activation of retina-driven pathways involved in the regulation of homeostasis, making its association with headache more complex than previously thought.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.