Eye drops containing the beta-blocker timolol alleviate head pain in the majority of migraine attacks, say the Indian authors of a small trial.

In the randomised, masked placebo-controlled crossover trial involving 50 patients, the authors reported that 233 timolol-treated attacks (82%) were associated with a clinically significant reduction in pain scores 20 minutes after instillation of the eyedrops, compared with 38 placebo-treated attacks (14%).