Does your eye twitch?

You are sitting down minding your own business when suddenly your eye starts to twitch. This perplexing phenomena is common and affects millions of people every day. For most people, eye twitching is not a serious condition and typically results from excessive stress or fatigue.

This condition is commonly referred to as eyelid myokymia. This condition is very common and often will resolve itself.

• Many people experience myokymia with the muscles in their eyelids. Generally the bottom eyelid is impacted, but this condition can be found in the top eyelid as well.
• Myokymia is usually a temporary condition that will resolve without treatment. It can last from a few minutes to a few hours and in rare instances can even last a few weeks or months.

Causes of myokima can include;

• Stress
• Lack of sleep
• Fatigue
• Corneal irritation or injury
• Prolonged staring or eye strain
• Excessive Caffeine
• Alcohol
• Electrolyte imbalance
• Neurological disorders
• Possibly Hereditary

• Myokymia will generally resolve itself without treatment. This can take days or weeks. Since the condition is often temporary many people choose to simply wait until the eyelid twitching goes away on its own.

In some cases medications may be used to reduce the problem. Botox can be injected into the affected eyelid muscles to cause temporary paralysis. This may stop the eyelid from twitching for a period up to 3 months.

Most of the time eyelid myokymia is nothing to worry about. It is simply a temporary spasm of the eyelid muscles that is more of an irritation than a problem. Reducing caffeine and alcohol consumption and getting more rest will often reduce the occurrence of this condition.

If you are concerned or need further advice please make an appointment with any of any optometrists.