The last time I added more perlite to my soil I noticed that, when transplanting, areas where the perlite would congregate in bunches seemed to have less root growth (it was definitely drier). I pull out the root ball and it is all loose; the root ball on one plant nearly lost its lower half as a virtual 'layer' of perlite in the middle somewhere caused everything to nearly split into two partitions. A plant that is firmly rooted, on the other hand, you can usually pull out of the pot by grasping the lower stem and without causing any damage.
If you use a lot of perlite in your soil mix it would make sense to have to water and feed more often, also. Gravity seems to drain most water from perlite and it doesn't retain nutrients at all like humus, peat or coco coir does. Microbes don't colonize as well as the material either.
I wonder if smaller-pebbled variety perlite would be a better option over chunk perlite, for drainage characteristics anyways.