photophobia
Photophobia is pain produced by bright light. The pain reaches the brainstem through the ophthalmic division of the trigeminal nerve.1
A variety of ocular inflammatory disorders can cause photophobia. The cornea is densely innervated, so a corneal abrasion usually brings intense pain, photophobia and reflex tearing.1,2 Migraine can cause photophobia both during and between attacks. Photophobia can also signal meningeal irritation, and that possibility deserves careful thought in any patient with light sensitivity.1
More detail
Hereditary cone disorders often produce abnormal light sensitivity along with reduced acuity, color vision loss and visual field defects. The light sensitivity can be mistaken for optical glare and lead to unnecessary cataract surgery.3 Light sensitivity is also one of the symptoms most characteristic of patients after acquired brain injury.4
Rarely, a lesion of the chiasm, the retrochiasmal visual pathways or the thalamus causes photophobia, and many patients have no clear cause. FL-41 tinted filters or gray lenses that block ultraviolet transmission may ease the discomfort.1
Sources (10)
- Liu, Volpe and Galetta, Neuro-Ophthalmology: Diagnosis and Management, ch. 19
- Kanski, Clinical Ophthalmology (2024), ch. 7
- Liu, Volpe and Galetta, Neuro-Ophthalmology: Diagnosis and Management, ch. 4
- Scheiman and Wick, Clinical Management of Binocular Vision, ch. 21
- Digre, K.B. and Brennan, K.C. 2012. Shedding light on photophobia. Journal of Neuro-Ophthalmology, 32(1), pp.68-81.
- Katz, B.J. and Digre, K.B. 2016. Diagnosis, pathophysiology, and treatment of photophobia. Survey of Ophthalmology, 61(4), pp.466-477.
- Lebensohn, J.E. 1951. Photophobia: mechanism and implications. American Journal of Ophthalmology, 34(9), pp.1294-1300.
- Noseda, R., Bernstein, C.A., Nir, R.R., Lee, A.J., Fulton, A.B., Bertisch, S.M., Hovaguimian, A., Cestari, D.M., Saavedra-Walker, R., Borsook, D. and Doran, B.L. 2017. Migraine photophobia originating in cone-driven retinal pathways. Brain, 140(7), pp.1971-1986.
- Rutstein, R. and Daum, K. 1997. Anomalies of Binocular Vision: Diagnosis & Management. St. Louis: Mosby.
- Wu, Y. and Hallett, M. 2017. Photophobia in neurologic disorders. Translational Neurodegeneration, 6(1), pp.1-7.
Reviewed October 2026