Department of Ophthalmology, GATA Haydarpasa Training Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey.
Med Hypotheses. 2012 Dec;79(6):744-5. doi: 10.1016/j.mehy.2012.08.017. Epub 2012 Sep 10.
As a general observation, wet hair in cold weather seems to be a predisposing factor for sinus headache and posterior eye pain. We offer a mechanism through selective brain cooling system for this observation. Selective brain cooling (SBC) is a mechanism to protect brain from hyperthermia. Components of SBC are head skin and upper respiratory tract (nose and paranasal sinuses). Cool venous blood from head skin and mucous membranes of nose and paranasal sinuses drains to intracranial dural sinuses and provide brain cooling. Brain will be cooled very much when head skin exposes to hypothermia such a condition like wet hair in cold weather. We suggest that, in order to reduce brain cooling activity, some alterations are being occurred within paranasal sinuses. For this purpose, sinus ostiums may close and mucus may accumulate to reduce air within sinuses. Also there may be some vasomotor changes to prevent heat loss. We hypothesize that this possible alterations may occur within paranasal sinuses as a control mechanism for brain temperature control during exposure of head skin to hypothermia. Paranasal sinuses may also cool brain directly by a very thin layer of bone separates the posterior ethmoid air sinus from the subarachnoid space and only thin plates of bone separate the sphenoidal sinuses from internal carotid artery and cavernous sinuses. Because of their critical role in the SBC, posterior ethmoid air sinus and sphenoidal sinuses may be affected from this alterations more than other paranasal sinuses. This situation may cause posterior eye pain. This mechanism can explain why a person who expose to hypothermia with wet hair or a person who don't use a beret or a hat during cold weather gets sinus headache and posterior eye pain. These symptoms could lead to an incorrect diagnosis of sinusitis.
一般来说，寒冷天气中湿发似乎是鼻窦性头痛和眼后疼痛的一个诱发因素。我们提出了一个通过选择性脑部冷却系统来解释这一观察结果的机制。选择性脑部冷却（SBC）是一种保护大脑免受高温的机制。SBC 的组成部分包括头皮和上呼吸道（鼻子和副鼻窦）。来自头皮和鼻子及副鼻窦黏膜的冷却静脉血液会流入颅内硬脑膜窦，为大脑提供冷却。当头皮暴露在低温下时，大脑会得到很好的冷却，比如寒冷天气中的湿发。我们认为，为了减少大脑冷却活动，副鼻窦内可能会发生一些变化。为此，鼻窦口可能会关闭，黏液可能会积聚，以减少鼻窦内的空气。也可能会有一些血管运动变化来防止热量流失。我们假设，这种可能的变化可能会发生在副鼻窦内，作为大脑在头皮暴露于低温时控制体温的一种控制机制。由于它们在后脑骨窦和蝶窦中起着至关重要的作用，因此这些部位可能比其他副鼻窦更容易受到这种变化的影响。这种情况可能会导致眼后疼痛。这个机制可以解释为什么一个人在寒冷天气中暴露在低温下，头发湿了，或者一个人不戴贝雷帽或帽子，会出现鼻窦性头痛和眼后疼痛。这些症状可能导致对鼻窦炎的误诊。
