[Ocular pain. Differential diagnostic aspects].

Clinical ophthalmologists are often confronted with ocular pain, a symptom that can cause severe difficulties in the diagnostic assessment. The most common etiology is constituted by neurological disorders. Besides possible ophthalmologic causes for such disorders, otorhinolaryngological and oral and maxillofacial origins have to be considered. The ophthalmologist plays an important role as the first examiner, who has to rule out acute life-threatening conditions and also direct further steps in the differential diagnosis. This article clarifies such a diagnostic approach and discusses how a rudimentary knowledge of the characteristics of primary headaches is crucial as even though they do not induce ophthalmologic changes they constitute the main reason for the occurrence of ocular pain.