migraine aura
Pre-headache light disturbance
A migraine aura is a sensory disturbance that precedes or accompanies a migraine headache.
Most commonly visual—flickering lights, blind spots, zigzag patterns—but auras can also involve tingling sensations, difficulty speaking, or other neurological symptoms.
They typically last 20 to 60 minutes: I knew a migraine was coming when the aura started.
- visualOf or concerning sight
- flashing lightsIntermittent bright signals
- flashingRepeated brief illumination
- zigzagAngled back-and-forth path
- jagged linesMarks with sharp angles
blind spot · blind spots · scotoma · shimmering · seeing stars · headache · throbbing · nausea · prodrome · fortification · scintillating · tunnel vision · photophobia · light sensitivity · warning · warning signs · numbness · tingling
- Hallucinationsvisual hallucinations, auditory hallucinations, visual hallucination, auditory hallucination, seeing things
- visual phenomenaoptical illusion, phosphenes, mirage, afterimage, afterimages
- Neuro-ophthalmologyoptic nerve, diplopia, double vision, nystagmus, hemianopia
- perceptionsee, vision, seeing, senses, observing
- sensory disorderscolor blindness, hearing loss, blindness, visual impairment, numbness