Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsDescribing the PainTypes of Eye HeadachesCauses and Risk FactorsRelief OptionsTreatmentsSeeking Medical Care
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
Describing the Pain
Types of Eye Headaches
Causes and Risk Factors
Relief Options
Treatments
Seeking Medical Care
Headachesbehind the eyes can cause sharp, stabbing, or dull pain. You may feel pain behind one or both eyes, in the temples, eyebrows, or other parts of your face. Sinus or tension headaches or primary headache disorders can cause these headaches. Various factors, such as eye strain, stress, and certain foods, can trigger headaches behind the eyes.
This article discusses what headaches behind the eyes feel like, the types of headaches that cause this issue, and what you can do to find relief.
Describing Headache Pain Behind Eyes
Headache pain behind the eyes can take different forms depending on the type of headache. Symptom onset, duration, and location can affect how your pain feels.
Sensations
There is considerable variability in what people mean when they say they feel a headache behind their eyes. Common manifestations include:
Symptom Onset
How quickly symptoms set in also depends on the headache type. Migraine and cluster headaches causeprodromes—changes in mood or behavior for one to two days before the headache and other symptoms. These may also causeaura—changes in vision, hallucinations, muscle weakness, speech difficulties, and nausea—for 30 minutes to several hours before onset.
With cluster headaches, pain comes on suddenly and is intense, with the symptoms lasting 15 minutes to one hour. Migraine, tension, and other types of headaches have a more gradual onset and can last for several hours to days.
Other Facial Pain Locations
Headaches behind the eyes can also spread to or affect other parts of the face. Tension headaches can cause pain to spread across the temples, scalp, or jaw. Cluster headaches, which cause pain inside or around one eye, can cause pressure and pain in the face to spread to the neck.
What Type of Headache Is an Eye Headache?
Headaches behind the eyes belong to two categories, as follows:
For example, sinus pressure, eye strain, dehydration, medication use or withdrawal, and infection or inflammation can lead to secondary headaches.
Causes and Risks Factors of Eye Headaches
Headaches occurwhen headache triggers stimulate thetrigeminalnerves on either side of your temples. These paired nerves receive sensory information from the scalp, blood vessels inside and outside the skull, the tissue surrounding the brain (meninges), and the face, ears, eyes, neck, jaw, and throat. The trigeminal nerves respond to headache triggers and send this information to the brain, resulting in pain.
Tension Headache
Nearly 80% of the population experiences tension headaches at some point. Tension headaches cause dull, two-sided, mild to moderate pressure or pain behind the eye due to muscle tension in the shoulders, jaw, neck, or scalp.Postural problems and mental health conditions, like anxiety and depression, may also contribute to tension headaches.
Eye Strain
Migraine
Migrainescause recurring, often severe, attacks of severe, sharp headaches, often on one side of the head. They can last anywhere from four hours to several days. Migraines can cause nausea and other symptoms. They frequently affect vision, sometimes causing temporary blindness to visual distortions.The exact cause of migraines is unknown.
Headache TriggersHeadache triggers vary from person to person and include:Alcohol, often red wineBright or flashing lightsCertain foods, such as cured meats, dark chocolate, caffeineCertain odors, smoke, or fumesChanges in weatherCold, flu, or sinus infectionDehydrationEmotional distress, stressExcessive physical exercise or exertionInsufficient or too much sleepLoud noisesMenstruation, menopause, or hormonal shiftsOverexertion, physical strainPhysical tensionSkipping mealsTeeth grinding or clenching (bruxism)
Headache Triggers
Headache triggers vary from person to person and include:Alcohol, often red wineBright or flashing lightsCertain foods, such as cured meats, dark chocolate, caffeineCertain odors, smoke, or fumesChanges in weatherCold, flu, or sinus infectionDehydrationEmotional distress, stressExcessive physical exercise or exertionInsufficient or too much sleepLoud noisesMenstruation, menopause, or hormonal shiftsOverexertion, physical strainPhysical tensionSkipping mealsTeeth grinding or clenching (bruxism)
Headache triggers vary from person to person and include:
Cluster Headache
Cluster headachescause recurring attacks of sharp, stabbing pain in or around one eye. They can last up to several hours but typically peak within 10 minutes. A swollen, red nose and teary eyes are additional symptoms of cluster headache episodes. Cluster headaches occur multiple times a day during specific periods of the year.
Sleep Apnea and Headaches Behind the EyesObstructive sleep apnea(OSA) causes sleep interruption due to difficulties breathing at night. It can cause snoring, poor sleep, periods of choking at night, and other symptoms. OSA can also trigger headaches in the morning, which can affect the eyes. Researchers found that 29% of those with OSA reported morning headaches.
Sleep Apnea and Headaches Behind the Eyes
Obstructive sleep apnea(OSA) causes sleep interruption due to difficulties breathing at night. It can cause snoring, poor sleep, periods of choking at night, and other symptoms. OSA can also trigger headaches in the morning, which can affect the eyes. Researchers found that 29% of those with OSA reported morning headaches.
Sinusitis and Infections
Sinus infections (infections to the passages behind the nose, below the eyes, and above the mouth) are another common cause of eye headaches. Allergies, viruses, bacteria, and fungal infections can cause the tissues lining these passages to become inflamed.
Sinus headaches cause a feeling of tightness and pressure that affects the eye, face, or teeth, with additional symptoms including runny nose, cough, loss of smell, fatigue, and fever.
Additionally, headaches may be a feature of the common cold, influenza (the flu), or other infections. Furthermore,brain infectionsor those of the meninges (the tissue surrounding the brain) are rare but cause headaches behind the eyes.
Hormonal Shifts
Shifts in estrogen levels (the female sex hormone) can cause headaches and trigger migraine attacks, which can lead to eye pain. Headache is a common feature ofpremenstrual syndrome(PMS), along with mood swings, uterine cramps, irritability, anxiety, insomnia, and food cravings, among other symptoms.
Medication Overuse Headache
Taking too many pain-relieving medications can worsen headaches. Prescription opioid medications such as Oxycontin (oxycodone), Vicodin (hydrocodone), or morphine can trigger primary headaches and migraines, resulting in amedication overuse headache.
Eye Conditions
Specific eye conditions can cause headaches and other symptoms.Glaucomais an eye condition that commonly causes headaches. It is a progressive disease affecting the optic nerve behind the eye. Glaucoma causes intense eye pain and a gradual loss of peripheral (side) vision. If left untreated, it can cause blindness.
Risk Factors
Certain health factors can put you at greater risk of developing a headache behind your eyes, such as:
People assigned female at birth are more prone to migraine and tension headaches, while those assigned male at birth are more likely to develop cluster headaches.
How to Relieve Eye Pain From Headache
Headache eye pain relief is individual and can take some trial and error. Common strategies for finding relief include:
Treatments Based on Eye Headache Cause
The treatment for headache behind the eye depends on the underlying cause. Often, home remedies are sufficient, but for chronic or recurring eye headaches, options range from medications to medical procedures.
Trigger Tracking
An important step in managing tension, migraine, and cluster headaches involves tracking your triggers. Log your symptoms, medications, and dietary and sleep habits. Once you identify the foods, drinks, behaviors, and other triggers, you can work to avoid them whenever possible, preventing attacks.
Medications
If nonprescription medications or other methods don’t yield results for migraine, cluster, or tension headaches, healthcare providers can prescribe severalclasses of drugsto treat your symptoms, such as:
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a talk therapy that focuses on changing your thinking and behaviors regarding pain. During CBT, you work with a therapist to identify and challenge negative thoughts about your condition. Your therapist will also support you in making lifestyle changes to help prevent attacks.
Nerve Stimulation
In severe, complex migraine and cluster headache cases, healthcare providers consider electrical stimulation, which involves using a device applied to the skin to direct electricity to nerves involved with pain perception. This approach is meant to scramble pain signaling.
There are several options for electrical stimulation, including the following:
Biofeedback
Biofeedback involves wearing devices that measure biological signs of muscle tension. With this information, healthcare providers can help you learn to identify when stress and tension may set off migraines or tension headaches and work to treat or prevent them.
When to See a Healthcare Provider
Since headaches can severely affect your quality of life and signal more severe conditions, it’s essential to know when you need help. Call a healthcare provider if you experience the following:
When Headache Is a Medical EmergencyIf your headache symptoms set on very quickly in an explosive, violent manner, it may be due to a ruptured blood vessel. Call 911; this is a medical emergency.
When Headache Is a Medical Emergency
If your headache symptoms set on very quickly in an explosive, violent manner, it may be due to a ruptured blood vessel. Call 911; this is a medical emergency.
Summary
Several conditions can cause headaches behind the eyes. The pain can be sharp or dull and localize in one or both eyes depending on the type of headache. Headaches behind the eyes can result from infections or other diseases, come after head trauma, or arise from primary headache disorders like migraine or cluster headache, among other conditions.
Treatments for headaches behind the eyes include home remedies, working to identify and avoid headache triggers, medications, and medical procedures. It’s critical to seek care for headaches since they can significantly impact your quality of life and signal a more severe condition.
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Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.MedlinePlus.Headache.National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.Headache.National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.Migraine.Rizzoli P, Mullally WJ.Headache.Am J Med. 2018;131(1):17-24. doi:10.1016/j.amjmed.2017.09.005MedlinePlus.Tension headache.Ahmed F.Headache disorders: differentiating and managing the common subtypes.Br J Pain. 2012;6(3):124-132. doi:10.1177/2049463712459691Spałka J, Kędzia K, Kuczyński W, et al.Morning headache as an obstructive sleep apnea-related symptom among sleep clinic patients: a cross-section analysis.Brain Sci. 2020;10(1):57. doi:10.3390/brainsci10010057MedlinePlus.Sinusitis.MedlinePlus.Premenstrual syndrome.National Eye Institute.Glaucoma.Ismail OM, Poole ZB, Bierly SL, et al.Association between dry eye disease and migraine headaches in a large population-based study.JAMA Ophthalmol. 2019;137(5):532-536. doi:10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2019.0170Bae JY, Sung HK, Kwon NY, et al.Cognitive behavioral therapy for migraine headache: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Medicina (Kaunas). 2021;58(1):44. doi:10.3390/medicina58010044Patel K, Batchu S, Wang R, et al.The use of electrical nerve stimulation to treat migraines: a systematic review.Cureus. 2021;13(8):e17554. doi:10.7759/cureus.17554
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
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Patel K, Batchu S, Wang R, et al.The use of electrical nerve stimulation to treat migraines: a systematic review.Cureus. 2021;13(8):e17554. doi:10.7759/cureus.17554
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