Eye Pain
Eye pain is a catch-all phrase to describe discomfort on, in, behind or around the eye.
The pain can be unilateral or bilateral — in other words, you can experience right eye pain, left eye pain, or the discomfort can affect both eyes. There’s no evidence that right eye pain occurs more frequently than left eye pain, or vice versa.
In some cases, such as an eye injury, the cause of the pain is obvious. But often it’s difficult to know why your eye hurts.
To complicate matters, the severity of eye pain does not indicate how serious the underlying cause of the discomfort is. In other words, a relatively minor problem, such as a superficial abrasion of the cornea, can be very painful. But several very serious eye conditions — including cataracts, macular degeneration, the most common type of glaucoma, a detached retina, and diabetic eye disease — cause no eye pain whatsoever.
Head Pain
Primary headaches
Primary headaches are stand-alone illnesses caused directly by the overactivity of, or problems with, structures in the head that are pain-sensitive.
This includes the blood vessels, muscles, and nerves of the head and neck. They may also result from changes in chemical activity in the brain.
Common primary headaches include migraines, cluster headaches, and tension headaches.
Secondary headaches
Secondary headaches are symptoms that happen when another condition stimulates the pain-sensitive nerves of the head. In other words, the headache symptoms can be attributed to another cause.
A wide range of different factors can cause secondary headaches.
These include:
- alcohol-induced hangover
- brain tumor
- blood clots
- bleeding in or around the brain
- “brain freeze,” or ice-cream headaches
- carbon monoxide poisoning
- concussion
- dehydration
- glaucoma
- teeth-grinding at night
- influenza
- overuse of pain medication, known as rebound headaches
- panic attacks
- stroke
As headaches can be a symptom of a serious condition, it is important to seek medical advice if they become more severe, regular, or persistent.