Alternating and Direct Current Stimulation for the Treatment of Chronic Neuropathic Eye Pain and Cerebral Symptoms: a Pilot Study
The goal of this clinical intervention is to test if two forms of transcranial current stimulation, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) or transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) can alleviate neuropathic eye pain in a sample of 20 patients. The main aims are: * Test if tDCS/tACS can alleviate neuropathic eye pain and/or other cerebral symptoms: brain fatigue, migraine, light sensitivity, etc. * Test if one stimulation method is superior to the other Patients will be treated for a total of fifteen 30-minute stimulation sessions, three times a day over a five-day period, each stimulation separated by approximately 4 hours, with either active tACS or tDCS over the scalp corresponding to primary sensory and motor areas. The patients will have questionnaires to monitor subjective experiences and pupillometry before and after treatment to monitor experimental outcomes.
• persistent eye pain for at least 6 months
• average eye pain intensity of 4 or more on a 0-10 numerical rating scale
• naive to transcranial stimulation
• eye pain having neuropathic-like characteristics