At some point, you’ve probably experienced a bad case of eye twitching and spasms.
While it can be super annoying, it’s actually quite common and usually comes and goes for a few days, weeks or months without warning.
Most of the time, it’s brought on by a variety of factors, including stress, fatigue, eye strain, dry eyes, and caffeine – known as a minor eyelid twitch.
“Eye twitching is usually caused by fatigue of the smooth muscles around the eye,” explains Dr. Bola Oyeyipo, a family physician in San Antonio, Texas and co-founder of Healthgist.com. “Unlike skeletal muscle, which we can control, smooth muscles are out of our control as humans.”
For the most part, it’s nothing to worry about, but you’ll need to treat the underlying cause to make the twitching stop.
In addition to minor eyelid twitching, there are two other types of eye twitching: Benign Essential Blepharospasm and Hemifacial Spasm.
Benign Essential Blepharospasm is characterized by excessive blinking and can eventually lead to light sensitivity, blurry vision and even facial spasms.
Hemifacial Spasms, on the other hand, are rare and go beyond the eyelid muscles and all the way down to the mouth muscles. In most cases, a Hemifacial spasm affects one side of the face.
So, when is it time to see a doctor? “Most eye twitching will resolve on its own after taking a rest or a nap,” Dr. Oyeyipo says. “See a doctor if your eye twitching lasts more than 24 hours or becomes progressively worse, which could point to a neurological disorder like Myasthenia Gravis.”
As mentioned earlier, eye twitching resolves itself, but one of the more common treatments for persistent eye twitching is Botox.
However, Dr. Oyeyipo warns that “treatment with Botox could cause a lazy eye.”
While there’s no magic solution for getting rid of an eye twitch and spasm, the best thing you can do is reevaluate your lifestyle as a way of trying to pin point whatever it is that’s causing it.
Are you more stressed out than usual?
How much sleep are you getting every night?
Too much caffeine?
Maybe it’s time for your glasses or contacts prescription to be changed? Identifying your triggers can be extremely helpful.
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