Eye Conditions

Eyelid and Facial Spasms

What is Blepharospasm?

Blepharospasm is a rare and non-life-threatening spasm disorder (or dystonia) which causes involuntary spasm, blinking or other eyelid movements, like twitching.

Usually it starts with small eyelid twitches that happen every once in a while and over time the spasms often become increasingly more frequent and pronounced.

It can affect one or both eyes and in severe cases can cause a person to be rendered legally blind as the muscular spasms force the eyelids shut, sometimes for long periods of time. 

What is Hemifacial Spasm?

Hemifacial Spasm is a rare condition that affects half of your face, causing involuntary contraction of the facial muscles.

It commonly starts with twitching around one eye, and over time the spasms gradually become worse, causing the eye to close and impacting the shape of the mouth. Some also hear a clicking sound on the side that is affected when the spasm occurs.

While these spasms are non-life-threatening, it can affect quality of life.

 

 

What is Blepharospasm?

Blepharospasm is a rare and non-life-threatening spasm disorder (or dystonia) which causes involuntary spasm, blinking or other eyelid movements, like twitching.

Usually it starts with small eyelid twitches that happen every once in a while and over time the spasms often become increasingly more frequent and pronounced.

It can affect one or both eyes and in severe cases can cause a person to be rendered legally blind as the muscular spasms force the eyelids shut, sometimes for long periods of time. 

What is Hemifacial Spasm?

Hemifacial Spasm is a rare condition that affects half of your face, causing involuntary contraction of the facial muscles.

It commonly starts with twitching around one eye, and over time the spasms gradually become worse, causing the eye to close and impacting the shape of the mouth. Some also hear a clicking sound on the side that is affected when the spasm occurs.

While these spasms are non-life-threatening, it can affect quality of life.

 

 

Blepharospasm: Causes and Treatment

Blepharospasm is rare and happens when the part of the brain that controls your eyelid muscles stops working correctly.

It is unlike common mild eyelid twitching, which usually goes away on its own and can be caused by stress, dry eye, too much caffeine, and lack of sleep.

Factors that may increase likelihood to develop it include:

  • Family history
  • Female
  • Age (40 to 60)

While there is no cure for blepharospasm, there are treatments that can help with your symptoms, including:

  • Muscle relaxant (toxin) injections – the most common treatment is muscle relaxant injections to your eyelid muscles, usually every 3 to 4 months
  • Myectomy surgery – remove some of the muscle or nerve tissue from your eyelids to help stop the twitching
  • Lifestyle changes – managing your emotional stress, getting enough sleep, and cutting down on food or drinks with caffeine (like coffee, tea, or soda)

Hemifacial Spasm: Causes and Treatment

The most common cause of hemifacial spasm is compression of the facial nerve by an artery in the brain. There are other rarer causes of hemifacial spasm such as infections, strokes or tumours. However, sometimes there is no obvious cause (idiopathic hemifacial spasm).

Anyone can be affected, although women tend to be affected slightly more often than men and symptoms usually start in middle age.

Hemifacial spasm is unlikely to improve without treatment and although there is no certain cure, several treatments are available.

  • Muscle relaxant (toxin) injections – currently the most commonly used treatment, the toxin disrupts nerve messages to muscles and causes paralysis, stopping the spasms.
  • Medications – may be helpful when the spasms are mild or infrequent. Anti-epileptic and/or sedative medicines may be considered to help quieten nerve impulses and relax muscle spasms. Medication would likely need to be taken on a long-term basis.
  • Microvascular decompression surgery – relieve the compression caused by the blood vessel on the facial nerve, usually reserved for cases where the spasms are severe and disabling, and when other treatments have failed.
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