Have Great Difficulty Opening Eyelid. Any Idea?

Posted on Sun, 16 Dec 2012

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sun, 16 Dec 2012 Answered on

Fri, 4 Jan 2013 Last reviewed on

Question : When I wake I have great difficulty opening left eyelid.I t feels that the muscle in the eyelid isn't working.However after a few seconds of blurry eye when I have manually pulled it up, the eyelid works perfectly all day...no gunk or drooping, althl. .ough it does feel very slightly gritty.
This has been going on for a few weeks...any ideas

Answered by Dr. Sudhir Kumar (10 hours later)

Hi,

Thank you for posting your query.

First of all, I would like to reassure that your symptoms are unlikely to be due to any serious problem.

There are two common reasons for drooping of eyelid- myasthenia gravis and third cranial nerve palsy.

In myasthenia gravis, there is drooping of eyelid, which is worse in the evenings (unlike yours), along with other symptoms such as double vision, slurred speech, swallowing difficulty, etc.

In third cranial nerve (nerve starting from brain supplying to upper eyelid) palsy, the drooping should be present the whole day, along with double vision.

So, based on the description, you do not seem to have either of the above problems.

With ageing, the muscle in the eyelids does become weak, which can lead to drooping. I feel this could be the case in you.

Please consult a neurologist or a neuro-ophthalmologist for further evaluation.

Best wishes,
Dr Sudhir Kumar MD DM (Neurology) XXXXXXX Consultant Neurologist

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar