Eyelid twitches are caused by involuntary muscle contractions and can be triggered by stress, fatigue, caffeine, and eye strain. There are three types of eyelid spasms: harmless eye twitching, essential blepharospasm, and hemifacial spasm. Treatment options include rest, medication, biofeedback, surgery, and Botox injections.
Eyelid twitches are twitching of the upper or lower eyelid that the person who has them can feel and are sometimes significant enough for others to see as they occur. These spasms occur when the eyelid muscles contract involuntarily. There are a number of causes of eyelid twitching, including stress, fatigue, caffeine consumption, and prolonged eye strain. The spasms can last from a few seconds to several months, but are usually not a cause for concern.
There are three classifications of eye twitching. The most common is eye twitching, which is usually the result of stress or fatigue. This type of eyelid twitch is usually harmless. The best treatment is rest and relaxation, although rinsing the eye with warm water is sometimes helpful. It may also help to reduce your caffeine or sugar intake if eye twitching persists for a long time.
Another more serious type of spasm is called essential blepharospasm. This is an involuntary condition that affects both eyes at the same time. Due to essential blepharospasm, the eyes tend to close involuntarily. Muscle spasms can also affect the eyebrows and even the muscles in the mouth and neck. The cause of this more serious eye twitch is an abnormal nerve pulse.
Essential blepharospasms, when they occur, are more intense than a simple eye twitch, so they can be quite problematic as they can severely impair vision. For this reason it is important to treat essential blepharospasms if they occur. Treatment might consist of biofeedback or medication. In more extreme cases, surgery or Botox injections may be required. Botox injections, often called Botox® injections, paralyze the muscles and thus can relieve eyelid spasms.
A third type of eyelid spasm is a hemifacial spasm. These, like essential blepharospam, are more severe than eye twitching. They only affect one eye, but also involve a twitching of the mouth on one side of the face. Hemifacial spasms usually occur because an artery presses against the nerve that controls the facial muscles.
Treatment of hemifacial spasms can be similar to treatment techniques for essential blepharospasms. Botox can provide relief for spasms, but it’s more common for hemifacial spasms to require surgery. In this neurosurgical procedure, the surgeon relieves the pressure that the artery is putting on the nerve.
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