What Is an Aura?

What Is an Aura? (0:47)

An aura is a focal neurological disfunction that typically happens at the onset of the migraine. Only 15 percent of migraine patients have aura. Watch as Emily Rubenstein Engel, MD, of the Dalessio Headache Center Scripps Clinic, explains.

Read Transcript

Only 15% of patients of patients with migraine have Aura and it's a focal neurological dysfunction, that is typically happens at the onset of a migraine, the most common Aura is visual complaints. What the patient experiences is flashing lights out of one visual field that lasts for approximately 20 minutes.

It's a common misconception that the Aura is coming out of one eye and it's not. It's the visual field and the difference is that a visual field involves say the left side of your vision, out of both eyes, a phenomenon that's happening just in one eye ball, well truly just a aura out of one eye, that's aucular and that's something that you should see your optimologist for.