Disclaimer: I was provided two pairs of TheraSpecs migraine glasses in exchange for my honest review about migraine and photophobia. I was provided with both indoor and outdoor in the Classic design. A $10 off coupon code has been provided by TheraSpecs below. I am a Speak Your Migraine Ambassador. All opinions are my own.

Quick Pros and Cons

In this article you will read about my experience with two pairs of TheraSpecs migraine glasses, indoor and outdoor styles. It’s a little lengthy, so I’ve provided you with a Pros and Cons list here. I hope you take time to read through the whole review, but I know as a person with migraine, staring at the screen for a while can aggravate the eyes. The Pros and Cons listed below are my own personal experiences with TheraSpecs migraine glasses:

Pros:

• Comfortable design (Classic, both indoor and outdoor)
• Carrying case doubles as a microfiber lens cloth
• Outdoor glasses lessen the intensity of sunlight
• Outdoor glasses cast nice color on the scenery outside
• Indoor and Outdoor glasses helped eye lessen fatigue during migraine
• Indoor glasses help keep eye strain at bay when using computer
• Indoor glasses help peripheral light sensitivities
• Indoor glasses are cell phone friendly
• Indoor glasses cast a welcoming, orange tint to everything – but that’s the point I believe. I became used to the tint, especially during a migraine.
• Cost is relatively inexpensive. Classic Indoor cost $99 and Classic Outdoor cost $129. The Combo pack is $198.
• Kids glasses are available too!! Super cool TheraSpecs!
• Shop on TheraSpecs website has a filter with selections such as: Broader face, Smaller face, Side protection, Fit over glasses, Extra lightweight, etc.
• Measurements are provided for each pair of glasses to help you decide if they will fit your face
• Most glasses are unisex
• Prescription lenses available (for an added cost)
• 60-Day money back guarantee
• Personal frames and Readers can be sent in for custom lenses at a discounted rate

Cons:

• Does not come with hard shell case, but they are available for purchase on the website for a low cost
• Outdoor glasses are not cell phone friendly, causes a rainbow effect on screens which may aggravate a person with migraine. It doesn’t trigger migraine for me, but I cannot stare at it too long.

TheraSpecs Discount for Achy Smile Readers

Are you ready to purchase a pair of TheraSpecs migraine glasses? Don’t pay full price if you don’t have to. Use Coupon Code: ACHYSMILE2018 for $10.00 OFF a single purchase $70 or more! This coupon is good through May 2018.

Migraine Glasses

For the last few months I’ve been in a few discussions with other migraineur’s on Instagram and Facebook about their migraine glasses. I really wanted to try them to find out if they help with my light-triggered migraine attacks. They don’t happen often, but what is a big problem is when I’m already in an active migraine and the light is then too much. Could a pair of special glasses help my eyes during a migraine and keep me out of my dark cave? So far regular sunglasses haven’t helped.

Another issue I face is the “light strobe” effect of the sun through the trees while driving down the highway in North Carolina. If I’m already vulnerable to migraine, these trips are awful for migraine. I have to shield my face with my hands because just closing my eyes doesn’t help. Would the glasses eliminate the need to shut out the passing scenery? I feel an investment in migraine glasses is a smart choice, even if just helped one trigger.

Coincidence Turned Opportunity

As some of you know, I was invited to speak at the BlogHer 2018 Health conference in New York City, NY in late January 2018 as part of the Speak Your Migraine campaign. A fellow speaker and I were out to dinner and she had on a pair of orange-tinted glasses inside the restaurant. I already knew she was a migraine patient, so I assumed they were migraine glasses. I was curious about her opinion of them because as I mentioned earlier, I REALLY wanted to give them a try. I told her so and how a lot of my Instagram followers were just as curious. I would tell them, “buy some and let me know!” I wasn’t financially able to purchase them just yet.

During our conversation about the glasses she had nothing but amazing things to say. I was impressed. With a quick laugh and a smile, she mentioned she was biased. Kerrie Smyers is a co-founder of the company! We both laughed, and I was impressed at how knowledgeable she is about migraine, the science and effects of light, and her strength to keep moving forward. She’s definitely an inspiration!

After BlogHer I received an email from TheraSpecs asking if I’d like to review the glasses in exchange for an honest review. I was thrilled to give them a go! I have wanted to try them forever and I knew my followers would be grateful for a first-hand review. I have been wearing two types for the last two weeks now. I chose the Classic style in both the Indoor and Outdoor styles.

Out of the Box

The glasses arrived in a small, sturdy box via regular mail. I was already excited, I couldn’t wait to try them on! One, because I have a small, child-sized head and I wanted to know if they’d fit well since I chose the adult size. The glasses were also packaged nicely and in their own microfiber, drawstring cases. I loved that the pouch they are stored in doubles as the lens cloth. I would come to realize how handy this would be.

My daughter, Marissa, also has migraine. She’s 17, almost 18, and she approved of the design. She said, “Mom, these are so nice!” So that was already a high mark out the bag. The materials are quality plastic and very sturdy. They’ve been thrown into my backpack and my purse and they still look good as new. I use them almost daily and have not noticed any wear given the fact that they are in a fabric carrying pouch rather than a hard, plastic shell.

I don’t wear the glasses all day like a pair of prescription glasses. If they were prescription I would for sure, though. I have talked to many people who tell me they can’t really leave home because artificial light is a trigger. I do not have an artificial light trigger, but if I am vulnerable to migraine or in an active migraine, any type of light will become a major problem for me. I am vulnerable to migraine almost all the time. I have a daily, chronic migraine.

Real-World Examples

In the next few paragraphs I talk about how I use TheraSpecs in real life. I even let my daughter and my sister give them a try. They both experience migraine sometimes. I figured allowing them a quick try-on would give me another perspective.

Movie Night at Home

I was watching a movie with the family one evening and all the lights in the house were off but one in the hallway. I cannot stand lights to be on if they can be seen through my peripheral vision. It’s all or nothing! I usually get up and turn off surrounding lights (or I have whoever is closest do it). No ifs, ands, or buts about it. This night, though, I decided to try watching the movie with the indoor TheraSpecs. Worked like a charm! Keep in mind, if the light had been any further back and still in my peripheral vision, the glasses wouldn’t have been able to shield the light unless I moved. They do have wrap-around styles that might have worked in that case.

At the Ballpark

My nephew is a talented high school baseball player who just made the varsity team in his freshman year. The 2018 season will be starting soon, so the family and I went out on a sunny day to watch a few games. The sun was bright, and I had mild migraine symptoms and photophobia symptoms. With chronic migraine, mild is good! As I sat on the bench with the outdoor TheraSpecs glasses on, I noticed that my eyes weren’t fatigued, and the glasses never irritated my nose or gave me a headache from the bridge area. This is usually a real problem in my case. I have not been able to wear glasses for a long period of time because my nose is pretty sensitive and glasses in general can trigger a headache. This is the reason I chose glasses that did not have the silicone nose pads. Perfect!

Throughout the day I would take off the glasses to see how much of a difference my eyes felt with them on compared to off. I can say the outdoor, classic TheraSpecs migraine glasses made a positive impact on my outdoor experience. The mild migraine I was experiencing never upgraded to bed-bound stage and I enjoyed my entire afternoon. I was outside for hours! With the glasses off (my daughter stole them for a bit), I spent time squinting to avoid the brightness of the sun. With them on, no squinting necessary. While I realize regular sunglasses have a similar effect of dimming light, somehow the TheraSpecs removed the glare of the sun that is still visible through regular sunglasses. The color of the outdoors through the glasses is very nice and easy on the eyes. My daughter and I actually preferred the color to no glasses or her sunglasses. She’s sold and begs for a pair daily now!

I went to another baseball game over the weekend and TheraSpecs still continues to amaze me with how well they work. This time when my daughter asked to borrow them for a bit, I cringed because I was very sensitive to light that day. I allowed her to use them until I just couldn’t deal anymore, she wasn’t sensitive to light, so I didn’t feel bad about taking them back. When I put them back on I literally sighed and felt much better.

Lunchtime Migraine

During a recent speech about my life with migraine, I was hit with brain fog and had a difficult time finding my words. While the audience may not have noticed right away, I realized I was in the beginning stages of a migraine. As the talk went on, I was not getting any better. By the end, I apologized, but being a migraine talk I felt maybe it left a more lasting effect. I finished out the talk and when I was out of the audience’s view, I had to take a minute to collect myself. I still had to do a bit of walking to get out of the building. I was slow because I was beginning to have a very mild hemiplegic migraine. I also needed to eat, it was a late lunch. When we entered our car, I fished out my outdoor migraine glasses and wore them for the duration of the drive since I had photophobia symptoms.

Once we arrived at our hotel, I put away the outdoor glasses and replaced them with the indoor migraine glasses while in the restaurant.  I was still experiencing migraine symptoms, but it was beginning to subside. I always get eye grittiness with migraine attacks. This time was no exception. I realized that after wearing both the outdoor and indoor migraine glasses, my eye fatigue began to lessen. I couldn’t tell you a timeline. I didn’t feel well enough to write anything down, but I can say that I could notice the grittiness in my eyes was subsiding slowly. This is significant for me. This gritty feeling is so uncomfortable, and I normally spend a lot of time rubbing my eyes. It wasn’t until after I didn’t have that gritty feeling that I realized it was the glasses.

After we began to eat in a low light restaurant I no longer had sensitivity to light and I was able to remove the indoor glasses. I did not keep them on, as suggested on the website. I probably should have, as the migraine itself didn’t completely subside. But my eyes were no longer bothering me, and I’m still not used to wearing glasses 24/7. I didn’t expect the grittiness to subside, I only expected the migraine glasses to work on light sensitivities. It was a pleasant surprise.

On the Computer and Phone

I like to use the indoor glasses when I’m on my computer and cell phone now. Less strain on my eyes and I’m able to stay on much longer than without. I do not recommend using the outdoor glasses for screen time. It casts a rainbow effect on the screen that can be irritating. It is for me. If I am outside and wearing out door glasses, I do not spend time on my phone unless it’s a quick check.

As a blogger, writing on my computer is pretty much the point! I can type much faster than I can write, and I don’t get cramps as bad compared to handwriting. The screen, though, effects my vision for a bit. I have to take several breaks and sometimes I have to take a “day off” between writing.

I decided to test my theories about the glasses and screen time. I spent a day not using the migraine glasses and wrote several times on my computer and on my phone. The next day I used the glasses during screen time. I noticed that I had more eye fatigue and sometimes stronger eye grittiness when I did not wear the glasses. On the day I wore them, I was able to stay online longer and work without much discomfort. Uh oh, not sure if that’s a good thing (*snickering*).

Some people with migraine cannot be on their phone during an attack. I am one of those that can as long as I have my screen dimmed and light filters in place. During an attack recently, I wore the indoor glasses. I was able to do some reading using my Kindle app without eye fatigue. I find reading a good distraction from the pain – as long as I don’t move much. TheraSpecs allows me to do that for a longer timeframe. Lying in bed all day, even in pain, gets boring and I tend to concentrate on my pain more. Reading fiction helps me to escape for a little bit.

TheraSpecs Discount for Achy Smile Readers

Are you ready to purchase a pair of TheraSpecs migraine glasses? Don’t pay full price if you don’t have to. Use Coupon Code: ACHYSMILE2018 for $10.00 OFF a single purchase $70 or more! This coupon is good through May 2018.

TheraSpecs References

It is a widely known fact that people with migraine are sensitive to light, also known as photophobia. Some migraine attacks are even triggered by light. According to The Ultimate Guide to Photophobia and Light Sensitivity on the TheraSpecs website:

…photophobia can literally mean a ‘fear of light,’ but in reality, photophobia refers to a strong sensitivity to light. Not a condition in and of itself, photophobia or light sensitivity is a symptom of dozens of other conditions, and it can have different effects for different people. It can be persistent or chronic in some and temporary for others, and it can even cause pain as well but not always.

The guide goes on to say, “More recently, researchers have hypothesized that fluctuations in specific chemicals which control pain and pleasure in the brain may also contribute to photophobia responses—at least for individuals who have migraine or headache disorders.”

The Impact of Light Sensitivity infographic below helps us understand the role of light and chronic pain.

My Thoughts

My family and I are grateful to be able to spend more time outdoors and enjoy each other without worrying so much about the light. The glasses have cut down on my light triggers and eliminated light concerns during active attacks.

After wearing TheraSpecs migraine glasses over the last few weeks, I’ve come to the conclusion that I am better off owning them than being without them. You might not have light sensitivity with your migraine disease, but I do. I do not leave home without them and they are always nearby. Have light sensitivity yourself? I highly suggest you grab a pair or two after reading through the FAQ on their website.

Discount for Achy Smile Readers

Are you ready to purchase a pair of TheraSpecs migraine glasses? Don’t pay full price if you don’t have to. Use Coupon Code: ACHYSMILE2018 for $10.00 OFF a single purchase $70 or more! This coupon is good through May 2018.

A Quick Note: there are a few companies that design and sell glasses made for people with migraine. You can also talk with your optometrist about obtaining a pair of glasses to help with migraine. I have no opinion of these options since I have not tried nor contacted any of these companies outside of TheraSpecs.

Disclaimer: I was provided two pairs of TheraSpecs migraine glasses in exchange for my honest review about migraine and photophobia. I was provided with both indoor and outdoor in the Classic design. I am a Speak Your Migraine Ambassador. All opinions are my own.