"Eye Twitches Are Usually Harmless, But Here’s What You Can Do About Them" - Kate Furby
Americans are spending more and more time looking at screens, and it’s not always fun or entertaining. It prevents us from hitting our bedtime goals. It fatigues our eye muscles. The exact biological reasons for the benign eye twitch remain a mystery. However, the muscle that begins to spasm is usually the orbicularis oculi, the delicate muscle fibers responsible for opening and closing the eyelid. Rudrani Banik, MD, associate professor of ophthalmology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and ophthalmologist at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai studied the benign eyelid twitch following 15 patients over many years. The average length of time reported for the twitch was seven years. The study defined eye twitches, or chronic myokymia, as “fine, continuous, undulating contractions” across the muscle. None of Dr. Banik's patients progressed to a neurological condition during the study, however, in rare cases, an eye twitch can be a sign of larger issues, depending on how it occurs.
- Rudrani Banik, MD, Associate Professor, Ophthalmology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Ophthalmologist, New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai