A very promising article published in Review of Optometric Business from December, 2022
A recent study showed that wearing special green-tinted eyeglasses reduces pain in patients with fibromyalgia and others who experience chronic pain, according to a press release issued by Edward Paul, OD, Ph.D.
This may help decrease the need for opioids to manage severe pain in the three million Americans addicted to opioid pain relievers. “Syntonics, or optometric phototherapy, is the branch of ocular science dealing with the application of selected light frequencies through the eyes,” said Dr. Paul, medical director and vision science researcher with Paul Vision Institute in Wilmington, N.C. “In recent years, Syntonics has been shown to be effective in the treatment of brain injuries, sleep disorders, PMS, mood and emotional disorders.”
Additional research from the University of Arizona showed green-tinted lenses also helps to reduce pain and headaches in migraine sufferers. The treatment reduced headache days by 70 percent in patients suffering from episodic migraines and by nearly 60 percent in those suffering from more frequent, chronic migraines.
Patients in the Duke study who wore the green-tinted lenses used fewer opioids, demonstrating that their pain was adequately controlled. Most patients who wore the green eyeglasses reported feeling better and asked to keep wearing them. The green eyeglasses could provide an easy to use, inexpensive, non-drug option. There are practically zero risks or side effects in wearing green eyeglasses, according to Dr. Paul. “If we see 50 percent of patients benefit from this, then it becomes something worth trying,” he stated.
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