Photophobia and methylphenidate

Abstract

It is a report of the case of a 7-year-old boy with attention-deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD), who developed bilateral photophobia when taking methylphenidate (MPH). MPH was stopped and reintroduced many times, and on all of the trials, photophobia reappeared immediately. Photophobia might be an adverse effect of MPH that bothers ADHD children. With the consideration that MPH increases cortical excitability, it is possible that MPH increases sensitivity to some stimulus such as light, and these sensitivities make these children more irritable and sad.