Unilateral recurrent periorbital pain: the role of the neuro-ophthalmologist

Abstract

Unilateral recurrent periorbital pain is an aspecific symptom that may have originated from different orbital and ocular regions and structures that share the same innervation and can be provoked by different pathological disease. Since in some cases the patient is unable to associate with certainty the pain to a specific structure or region, a neuro-ophthalmological evaluation may be addressed to highlight signs useful to suspect the involvement of the eye, the optic nerve, the extra-ocular muscles, or intraorbital tissue or the cavernous sinus. This review describes the clinical patterns of periocular pain related to common ocular disease, orbital, or intracranial diseases.

Keywords: Dry eye; Oculofacial pain; Optic neuritis; Orbitopathy; Periorbital pain.