Definition
The pain over the eye can be punctual or spread to the wider facial area and radiate to the forehead, jaw or ears. This pain can occur in connection with an eye disease or independently of it. They can be short-term or long-term. The severity and quality can vary greatly depending on the cause.
Possible causes
Pain over the eye can have a variety of often harmless causes. For example, physical or psychological tension and tension can lead to pain over one or both eyes. In the course of overexertion of the eyes or general overexertion, the vessels in the area above the eyes can be dilated and thus irritate the surrounding nerve.
Various eye diseases can also cause pain over the eye. These include visual defects, including strabismus, or a glaucoma attack (“glaucoma”). However, the accompanying symptoms characteristic of the eye disease usually occur in the form of certain visual disorders or other complaints.
Pain over the eye can also occur in the context of various headache disorders. These can be classified into different categories with respective subgroups. For example, pain over the eye can occur in migraine, tension headache, after head trauma or after taking substances such as drugs, alcohol or coffee.
Short-term pain over the eye of unknown cause can also occur. Very rarely, tumors can also manifest themselves as pain over the eye. In the context of paranasal sinusitis, especially if the sinus is affected, pain can occur over the eye or both eyes.
Characteristic features of sinusitis are increased pain when bending down and pain when pressing on the exit points of the so-called triplet nerve (trigeminal nerve). In acute sinusitis, the pain is usually stronger and more intense directly above the eyes, while headaches in chronic sinusitis often occur between the eyebrows, in the area of the nasal root. In all diseases, with severe restriction of nasal breathing and insufficient ventilation of the sinuses, facial headaches are not uncommon and typical.
According to this, pain can also occur over one or both eyes in the case of a cold and is an indication that the sinuses are affected. So-called herpes viruses can cause herpes on the lip and, due to the rapid spread and persistence, also on the entire face. Conjunctivitis of the eyes may also develop.
These diseases often cause pain above the eyes, among other things. In the worst case, an inflammation can develop in the brain (the so-called varicella zoster virus from the herpes virus family can also cause chickenpox. After undergoing chickenpox infection, shingles can occur as a reactivation. This can also manifest itself on the face and cause pain over the eyes, among other things. It is typical that pain and sensitivity disorders occur at first, but only after about 3 days are the skin rashes characteristic of chickenpox visible.
