The Twitch And What To Do About It
Dr. Susan Reckell has almost a quarter of a century of experience as an optometrist. She knows her way around the eyes, and wants to help you tame the twitch.
The Twitch. You know what that is. The involuntary, unwanted annoying spasm under, over, or around your eye. Dr. Reckell explains some of what is happening to the nerve and muscles around your eye, and has some suggestions that may offer some relief and relaxation.
(Transcribed from video interview)
Dr. Reckell:
Well the most common cause is stress. We have nerve receptors, or what’s call the trigeminal nerve, it’s a nerve that extends from our ear and it has branches that go to the upper lid, the lower lid, the upper lip, the lower lip and when we have stress, there are muscles overlying that tend to clench up and those muscles, when they clench, will push on that trigeminal nerve and the endings start to have an irritation, that kind of twitch sensation.
So again, stress is the most common reason and people don’t realize that they are under stress at the moment. They just feel that twitching. So when it happens to realize most likely it is stress, to try to do some deep breathing, possibly massage the temples, take it up and walk around, you know, and just realize you have to just calm yourself in anyway that you can.
Now there are some health disorders that can be related to a twitching. There can be a focusing disorder, many different focusing disorders that the eyes are strained and that extra strain can lead to that twitch. So you should have a complete eye exam and see if there’s any focusing problems that are related to the twitch.
Other things can be an environmental irritant, dry eye, allergy and just that irritation there can set off those nerve endings and start to have a twitch there as well. So, with that you can use an over-the-counter lubricant; put the drop in, rinse, relax the eye; that can help there.
We value and respect the experiences of all of our HERWriters, but everyone is different. Many of our writers are speaking from personal experience, and what's worked for them may not work for you. Their articles are not a substitute for medical advice although we hope you can gain knowledge from their insight.
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