What’s New in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Headaches That Ophthalmologists Should Know About? | AAO 2025

In the past, ophthalmologists were perhaps not so focused on referring patients that presented with serious headaches, such as migraines, to headache specialists. That is changing because of new effective treatments, according to Michael Gilhooley, M.D., Ph.D.

“Get those patients in to see the specialist, the headache specialists, the neurologists to give them the option to get onto these revolutionary therapies,” said Gilhooley, a neuro-ophthalmologist at the Doheny Eye Institute in Pasadena, California.

Gilhooley gave a presentation about headaches today at the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s annual meeting. He spoke with Managed Healthcare Executive before his presentation.

The new treatments Gilhooley referred to are calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) inhibitors, a class that includes monoclonal antibodies such as Aimovig (erenumab) and Emgality (galcanezumab) and small-molecule drugs such as Nurtec ODT (rimegepant) and Qulipta (atogepant).

Gilhooley said another relatively recent change in headache management for ophthalmologists is the advent of optical coherence tomography (OCT), which allows ophthalmologists to monitor idiopathic intracranial hypertension via the eyes. Headaches are a symptom of idiopathic intracranial hypertension.