What Causes Eye Twitching? Part 3

The third major category of eyelid twitching is called Hemifacial Spasm.
This manifests as frequent, involuntary contractions of the muscles on one
side of the face. It’s a neurological disorder that is typically
encountered in patients aged 50 and older. Women may be affected more
often than men.

Hemifacial Spasm

Usually, the first symptom is intermittent lid twitching, followed by
forced lid closure. The spasm may then gradually spread to involve the
lower face, pulling the mouth towards one side. Eventually, the spasms
become continuous and involve all the muscles on the affected side of the
face.

It is believed that hemifacial spasm occurs when a blood vessel presses on
the facial nerve that supplies the muscles to that side of the face.
nerve. Rarely, it is due to a tumor pressing on the nerve.

All hemifacial spasm patients therefore require a CT scan or MRI scan to
rule out the possibility of a tumor, even though one is found only 1% of
the time.

Drug therapy in the form of oral muscle relaxers can be used to treat
hemifacial spasm, but it is effective in only about 5% of cases. Rarely,
surgery may help to relieve the compression of the blood vessel on the
nerve, but serious complications are possible, such as permanent hearing
loss and facial numbness.

The most effective treatment for hemifacial spasm is Botox injections into
the affected muscles.

The majority of this site will focus on how to deal with the most common
form of eyelid twitching called benign eyelid myokymia or benign eyelid
twitching.