Hart Shafer
Phoenix, AZ
“Wearing sunglasses indoors is increasing your sensitivity to light.” My wife and I
were floored when her headache specialist made this statement. Chronic migraine
had made her so sensitive to light that she had to wear sunglasses indoors. During an
attack, photophobia increased her misery. Sunlight, light from computer monitors
and TVs, and fluorescent lights triggered even more attacks.
When my wife protested that sunglasses were her only way to quell the pain, her
physician’s response excited us both. Research had found that a special tint for glasses
resulted in 74% fewer migraine attacks per month! When we did more reading at
home, we found that the study the specialist mentioned, was part of more than 20
years of research on light sensitivity. The problem was finding glasses that blocked
enough light for the tint to be effective.
I had watched my wife suffer for many years, and while I could relate because of
my own episodic migraine, I often felt helpless in her struggle. This time I saw a way
to help. My background is in new product development, so I put those skills to work
and made exactly the glasses we envisioned for her. My wife got so much relief that
we made a few more pairs to help other people we know who experience migraine.
Eventually, we established a company that manufactured specialized eyewear.
Although we started the company because of our personal migraine experience, we
quickly learned that photophobia is a symptom of more than 40 health conditions.
And, it is not the only headache disorder in which light sensitivity is a problem—
tension-type headache, cluster headache, new daily persistent headache (NDPH),
www.headaches.org
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National Headache Foundation
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