An aura is a perceptual disturbance experienced by some with epilepsy or migraine. An epileptic aura is actually a minor seizure.
Epileptic and migraine auras are due to the involvement of specific areas of the brain, which are those that determine the symptoms of the aura. Therefore, if the visual area is affected, the aura will consist of visual symptoms, while if a tactile sensory one, then tactile sensory symptoms will occur.
___Complex_partial_seizure_q.jpg)
Focal seizures are seizures that originate within brain networks limited to one hemisphere of the brain. In most cases, each seizure type has a consistent site of onset and characteristic patterns of spread, although some individuals experience more than one type of focal seizure arising from distinct networks. Seizure activity may remain localized or propagate to the opposite hemisphere. Symptoms will vary according to where the seizure occurs. When seizures occur in the frontal lobe, the patient may experience a wave-like sensation in the head. When seizures occur in the temporal lobe, a feeling of déjà vu may be experienced. When seizures are localized to the parietal lobe, a numbness or tingling may occur. With seizures occurring in the occipital lobe, visual disturbances or hallucinations have been reported. Some focal seizures begin with an aura — a subjective experience that precedes or constitutes the seizure itself, particularly in focal preserved consciousness seizures.
Under the 2025 classification of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE), focal seizures are divided into three types: those with preserved consciousness, those with impaired consciousness, and those that evolve to bilateral tonic–clonic activity. Historically known as "partial seizures," focal seizures were previously subdivided into "simple partial" (preserved consciousness) and "complex partial" (impaired consciousness). These terms have been deprecated in favor of biologically grounded terminology aligned with advances in neurophysiology and imaging.
Migraine (UK: /ˈmiːɡreɪn/, US: /ˈmaɪ-/) is a complex neurological disorder characterized by episodes of moderate-to-severe headache, most often unilateral and generally associated with nausea, light sensitivity and sound sensitivity. Other symptoms may include vomiting, unusual pain, dizziness, and cognitive dysfunction. Some people with migraine experience aura, a period of sensory disturbance at the onset of a migraine attack.
Although primarily considered to be a headache disorder, migraine is highly varied in its clinical presentation and is better thought of as a spectrum disease rather than a distinct clinical entity. Disease burden can range from episodic discrete attacks to chronic disease. Incidence of migraines may increase over time, evolving from episodic migraine to chronic migraine. Overuse of acute pain medications may hasten this process and is a risk factor for developing medication overuse headache.
In medicine, a prodrome is an early sign or symptom (or set of signs and symptoms, referred to as prodromal symptoms) that often indicates the onset of a disease before more diagnostically specific signs and symptoms develop. More specifically, it refers to the period between the first recognition of a disease's symptom until it reaches its more severe form. It is derived from the Greek word prodromos, meaning "running before". Prodromes may be non-specific symptoms or, in a few instances, may clearly indicate a particular disease, such as the prodromal migraine aura.
For example, fever, malaise, headache and lack of appetite frequently occur in the prodrome of many infective disorders. A prodrome can be the early precursor to an episode of a chronic neurological disorder such as a migraine headache or an epileptic seizure, where prodrome symptoms may include euphoria or other changes in mood, insomnia, abdominal sensations, disorientation, aphasia, or photosensitivity. Such a prodrome occurs on a scale of days to an hour before the episode, where an aura occurs more immediate to it.