Migraine is a prevalent, disabling, undiagnosed and undertreated disease in neurological practice. It is a chronic, recurrent disorder with episodic manifestations that are progressive in some individuals with clinical, physiological and anatomical bases. Progression may be due to mechanisms generating the migraine attacks or to the activation generated by the attacks. Potentially remediable risk factors for chronification include frequency of migraine attacks, obesity, excessive use of medications, caffeine overuse, stressful life events, depression, sleep disorders and cutaneous allodynia.