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CASE REPORT
Angle closure as a cause for intermittent headache in a child
  1. Nuno Pinto Ferreira1,
  2. Joana Medeiros Pinto1,
  3. Filomena Pinto,
  4. Luis Abegão Pinto2
  1. 1Department of Ophthalmology, Hospital de Santa Maria, Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
  2. 2Visual Sciences Study Center, Faculty of Medicine of Lisbon University, Lisbon, Portugal
  1. Correspondence to Professor Luis Abegão Pinto, abegaopinto{at}gmail.com

Summary

Angle closure is usually associated with older patients, as it typically manifests in middle to later life, being associated with an age-related increased lens volume. However, angle closure can occur in any age group if there is an anatomical predisposition that promotes pupillary block or an anterior pulling of the iris. During an acute angle closure, patients generally experience ocular pain, headache, nausea, vomiting and conjunctival hyperaemia. These attacks can be misinterpreted as migraine, particularly if subacute or chronic and the demographic characteristics of the patient do not suggest a primary angle closure event. Diagnosing a headache as ocular related is of paramount importance, since there is an effective treatment. We report a case of a child with intermittent headache which revealed a subacute angle closure in both eyes.

  • Anterior chamber
  • Glaucoma
  • Iris
  • Headache (including migraines)

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Footnotes

  • Contributors All the authors were involved in patient follow-up and contributed with management decision, imaging and writing of the present work. NPF was involved in the concept and writing of the manuscript. JMP and LAP revised it and were clinically involved in patients imaging acquisition and editing. FP was responsible for the ultrasound biomicroscopy.

  • Competing interests None declared.

  • Patient consent Consent obtained from guardian.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.