Blepharospasm
What is blepharospasm?
Blepharospasm is a condition where patients experience involuntary and excessive eyelid blinking. Blepharospasm is due to spasms of the muscle that controls blinking. This muscle is called the orbicularis oculi. The exact cause of blepharospasm is unknown. Sometimes, blepharospasm has a known cause, such as dry and irritated eyes, or stress.
What are the symptoms of blepharospasm?
Involuntary blinking is usually mild and occasional at first, but can become more severe and frequent over time. Patients might even experience spasms of their face and neck.
There may be triggers for the spasms, such as bright light.
Most patients have symptoms on both sides, but some are affected mainly on one side. Eye spasms may decrease when sleeping or concentrating on a specific task.
How is blepharospasm treated?
There are various treatment options for blepharospasm depending on how severe your symptoms are. For mild symptoms of blepharospasm, the avoidance of triggers such as reducing bright light by wearing sunglasses, can be helpful. For more severe symptoms of blepharospasm, Botulinum toxin (“Botox”) is generally the treatment of choice. Botox given at regular intervals is effective in relieving symptoms in around 80% of patients.
What is Botox?
Botulinum toxin (Botox) is a protein produced by a type of bacteria called Clostridium botulinum. It is widely used in medicine for many conditions and has an excellent safety profile with no known long term side effects. Botox works by paralyzing the muscle it is injected into and generally lasts up to 2 months.
What if Botox doesn’t work?
If Botox stops working or isn’t effective, oculoplastic surgery is usually the preferred treatment for blepharospasm. The procedure performed is called a myectomy, and involves removal of some of muscles around the eyelid. This oculoplastic procedure is usually effective in up to 85% of cases and the amount of muscle removed will be decided by your oculoplastic surgeon and differs between patients.