Areas around the eyes, including the eye socket, brow bone, and forehead, often experience pain for various reasons. Headaches between the eyebrows can be frustrating, but understanding the reasons behind them can help manage the condition effectively.
Usually, this pain is localized underneath the eyebrows or around it. It could be temporary, lasting for a few hours, or persistent, indicating a serious condition. Irrespective of the time one suffers from headaches between eyebrows, it can affect daily routine and errands tremendously.
Therefore, let’s understand what causes headaches between the eyebrows, eye socket, and brow bone, effective treatment methodologies, and the best time to visit a doctor.
What Causes Headaches Between Eyebrows?
Generally, the reason behind the pain between the eyebrows and areas around it is short-lived, and the discomfort lasts only for a few hours. Applying ointments or taking medications helps curb them effectively. However, in certain cases, it indicates a chronic, long-lasting condition that requires immediate medical attention.
Here are the major reasons behind headaches in between eyebrows-
1. Tension Headache
As the name indicates, tension headaches result from stress, lack of sleep, pressure from work, etc. Usually, such pain is moderate to mild, lasts only for a few hours, and cures easily. In tension headaches, one may experience a tight band squeezing the forehead and brow bone.
Tension headache is the most common type of headache between the eyebrows.
2. Migraine
Migraine is a serious condition affecting a high number of people (1) in different stages of their life. It feels like a throbbing pain with a pulsing sensation in one or another part of the head, including the forehead, eye socket, and brow bone.
People often experience more symptoms with migraine, such as nausea, vomiting, sensitivity to light, etc. Since the pain of migraine is severe, it becomes difficult to accomplish normal daily tasks.
3. Cluster Headache
Cluster headache occurs in pattern and is one of the most painful types of headaches that one can experience between the eyebrows and brow bones. The pain could come in clusters, attacking multiple areas of the head, and may happen in a row.
Cluster headaches are usually intense and often experienced between the eyebrows. In some cases, it could be localized to one side of the head.
4. Glaucoma
Contrary to the common belief that glaucoma is only related to eye conditions, it is a group of conditions that can lead to serious damage to the optic nerve when left untreated. In glaucoma, excess fluid keeps building up in the front of the eye, causing acute pressure.
People with glaucoma experience intense pain (2) around the eye socket, brow bone, and forehead. Timely management and the right treatment can prevent the harmful effects of glaucoma and vision loss.
5. Sinusitis
Also called a sinus infection, sinusitis is an inflammation of the sinuses, the hollow air space within the bones of the face surrounding the nose. The cause of sinus infection is a blockage in the opening of the nasal passage. Usually, the blockage occurs due to a cold, nose injury, tooth infection, or allergy.
A range of uncomfortable symptoms may arise as a result of sinusitis, including headache in between the eyebrows, facial pain, swelling in and around the eyes, etc. All these lead to high discomfort in completing daily errands.
Irrespective of the type of acne or acne lesion one may get, it is essential to manage them properly. Ineffectively treated acne may lead to scarring that may have long-lasting effects on mental and emotional well-being. Proper management minimizes the period of acne on the face and promotes healthy skin.
How to Address Eyebrow Headache
Headaches between the eyebrows, eye socket, and brow bone could be due to various reasons. Since such aches may result from minor issues such as lack of sleep or work pressure, one cannot rule out serious conditions behind them, like migraine and glaucoma.
If you are aware of your condition and accustomed to the pain, take the medications straightaway as prescribed by your healthcare provider. However, if you are experiencing it for the first time and it is persistent for many hours, discuss it with your doctor, who will diagnose the condition and provide the right treatment depending upon its cause.
How To Relieve Headache Between Eyebrows?
Usually, the line of treatment for headaches in between the eyebrows is determined by the causal reasons behind it. In most cases, medications such as ibuprofen or acetaminophen (3) are prescribed by the healthcare provider, which fastens the pain relief process. However, it is effective only when the cause of the headache between the eyebrows is tension, migraine, or cluster.
If the pain doesn’t subside even after taking these medicines and the body is not responding to any of the over-the-counter medications, the doctor may recommend certain tests to rule out other serious health conditions.
For instance, in the case of glaucoma, glaucoma surgery in combination with topical drugs or laser therapy is advised. Similarly, when the headache is due to sinusitis, it waves off when the infection clears over time. In the meantime, one can relieve the pressure by using a warm compress over the nose, nasal spray, breathing steam, etc. Serious cases of sinusitis are treated with antibiotics.
Home Remedies To Treat Headache Between Eyebrows
A few natural remedies work wonderfully in combating pain in the eye socket, brow bone, and forehead. These are:
- Rest
- Meditation
- Cold compress application
- Reducing stress
- Avoiding allergens
When to Seek Healthcare Professional?
Usually, eyebrow pain is mild to moderate and doesn’t require medical attention. It subsides after getting proper sleep and rest, trying home remedies, and applying topical ointments. However, if the headache continues and keeps getting intense, gets associated with vision problems, and disrupts daily life, seek medical attention immediately.
Conclusion
Headaches in between the eyebrows can affect anyone at any stage of life. However, it is usually experienced by adults and elders with some underlying medical condition. The good news is in most cases, such headaches are mild to moderate and subside over time.
However, in certain cases, it may indicate a serious condition that requires medical attention, followed by surgical treatment. Therefore, it is advised to always look out for other symptoms associated with headaches between the eyebrows, such as the severity of pain and how long it lasts. It will help the healthcare provider decide the right line of treatment.
References
- QuickStats: Percentage* of Adults Aged – https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7222a6.htm
- Does Migraine Increase the Risk of Glaucoma? – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4902542/
- Paracetamol versus ibuprofen in treating episodic tension-type headache: a systematic review and network meta-analysis – https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-48910-y#:~:text=Ibuprofen%20
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