Strange phenomena of the body: why does my eyelid throb?
They are called palpebral myochemia or flutter and are related to something that the WHO considers a "global epidemic"
It's probably happened more than once. Suddenly one of your eyelids begins to have small and annoying spasms, completely involuntary, that usually last several seconds or even more. If you know these symptoms means that at some point you have had myoquimias, or palpebral flutter, which in most cases are benign.
" They are involuntary spontaneous contractions of the orbicularis oculi muscle ," explains Julio Ortega Usobiaga, an ophthalmologist at the Clínica Baviera, who points out that although they can affect both eyelids, "it is more common to occur in the lower part of the eye, and usually only affects one of them. " These spasms or tremors are not strong enough to involuntarily close the eyelid -one of the functions of this muscle-, although they are very annoying, especially if they are repeated every several seconds. But what causes them?
Appear in situations of stress
In the vast majority of cases they are a symptom of something that the World Health Organization (WHO) considers a "global epidemic": stress . "They tend to appear in situations of tension, anxiety, fatigue and lack of sleep," says Ortega Usobiaga, and Guillermo García Ribas, a physician at the Neurology Service of the Ramón y Cajal University Hospital, agrees: " They are produced by greater muscular fatigue . Ocular muscle is very active and therefore very sensitive to exhaustion or stress. "
Keep in mind that this muscle keeps running almost all the time a person stays awake. "We blink an average of 10 times a minute [about 9,600 times a day, if we sleep eight hours ] and it is very difficult to avoid it If we are tired, with lack of sleep what increases the time we are with our eyes open, or suffer stress , one of the manifestations that can be observed are intermittent palpebral myocytes, "says García Ribas.
When to go to the doctor
Sometimes, these contractions last only a few days, but sometimes they can last for a few weeks. It is in these cases when it is convenient to consider going to the doctor.
The guideline García Ribas brand: " If they persist, especially at night when we are asleep and it is assumed that the muscle is relaxed, or if the myokymia affects not only the eyelid area but is observed in other points of the face You have to go to the doctor. "
The treatment recommended by almost all experts is to rest properly, avoid tensions and stress as well as stimulants or caffeine , and promote eye rest: away from the screens, whether computers, mobile phones or televisions, or at least take breaks every hour; avoid eye dryness, park lenses in favor of glasses and use indirect light.
