The relationship between dry eye and migraine.

Presently, migraine and dry eye are both thought to have an inflammatory pathogenesis. We aimed to investigate dry eye findings and any relationship with headache characteristics in migraine patients with and without aura. In total, 58 migraineurs and 41 age- and gender-matched controls were enrolled in this prospective clinical study. The migraine diagnosis was made according to the International Classification of Headache Disorders II diagnostic criteria. All patients underwent a complete ophthalmologic examination including tear meniscus measurements, meibography, tear breakup time, Schirmer test and the Ocular Surface Disease Index questionnaire. The presence of dry eye was higher in migraineurs as compared to the control group, but this did not reach statistical significance (p = 0.282). Among the headache characteristics, the presence of aura was significantly higher, and disease and attack durations were significantly longer in migraineurs with dry eye than in those without dry eye (p = 0.009, p = 0.010, and p = 0.003, respectively). In multiple logistic regression model, attack duration was found to be independently associated with the presence of dry eye in migraine patients (OR; 95 % CI; p = 0.029). The results show that dry eye may present in migraine patients with greater presence of auras and longer disease and attack durations.