Professor Emeritus of Ophthalmology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD
Subject
Facial Tic; Involuntary Movement; Pseudoptosis
Description
In this video, the patient is instructed to close both eyes. Upon being asked to open them, the left eye remains closed but can be passively elevated. When the task is repeated without manual assistance, the left eye fails to open spontaneously. She reports that she is unable to open the left eye. The patient reports that these episodes can last up to 5 minutes. Notably, there is an absence of frontalis muscle recruitment and an overactivation of the orbicularis oculi muscle. These findings may be consistent with a pseudoptosis or an atypical facial spasm, possibly of nonorganic etiology.
