The standard front-line therapy for treating a migraine? Popping a pill. But with knowledge emerging about the connection between vision problems and headaches, a South Dakota startup is taking a different approach to migraine therapy.
South Dakota startup EyeBrain Medical is developing corrective lenses that serve as eyeglasses – but also work to prevent chronic headaches. Its NeuroLenses are customized to synch up the imbalance between the eyes and the brain.
The company just raised $6 million from 21 investors, according to a regulatory filing, to continue development of these vision- and migraine-correcting tools. Last year, it raised $1 million.
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Prairie Business profiled the company last year:
Dr. Carol Miles, medical director of The Headache Center of Neurology Associates, said in a news release that people who think they suffer from chronic headaches may actually be suffering from a new-found class of headaches called eyeGraines.
“When the images for each eye are not properly aligned, the brain struggles to fuse them together. This struggle repeated over and over can lead to ‘eyeGraines,’” Miles said in the release.
In preliminary studies, 80 percent of patients experienced reduced or, in some cases, eliminated chronic headaches after using NeuroLens technology, according to the release.
“Working in conjunction with specialists in the eye care field, we have found a way to treat the disparity between visual and neurological systems,” Miles said. “We believe when these two systems are out of balance, it often manifests itself in chronic, severe headaches.”