Referred cutaneous allodynia in a migraine patient without simultaneous headache

Cutaneous allodynia is defined as the perception of pain when a non-noxious stimulus is applied to normal skin. This phenomenon has been demonstrated in migraine patients during an acute attack. It is thought to result from central sensitization of neurons in the trigemino-vascular system and may spread to areas beyond that of the referred head pain. In a recent study, migraine patients demonstrated increased temporal summation to painful mechanical stimuli in their referred head pain area between attacks. This suggests that changes in physiologic properties of nociceptive neurons may occur in migraine patients between attacks. We describe a migraine patient with interictal cutaneous allodynia contralateral to her usual head pain