Ptosis

Ptosis can block vision and affect the facial expressions and appearance of a person.  People may report that their friends and colleagues feel that they look tired all the time There are a number of causes of ptosis

The symptoms of ptosis include blocked vision, a feeling of heaviness of the eyelid,  brow ache if you raise your brows to compensate for the drooping eyelid, a lack of confidence or a change in facial expression.

Causes of ptosis include:

• Long term rubbing of the eye
• Contact lens use
• Injury to the eyelid
• Cataract or eye surgery
• Problems with the nerves around the eye like a third nerve palsy or Marcus Gunn or Jaw winking syndrome which are rarer
• Other medical problems that may affect the eyelid muscle such as myasthenia gravis ormyotonic dystrophy
• Congenital ptosis where it is present at birth

If the condition is not serious and not related to a nerve or muscle problem and doesn’t impact the vision or confidence it can be left alone.

Treatment is usually surgical for most cases with surgery usually done under local anaesthetic to raise the eyelid.

The surgical procedure used depends on how well the levator muscle that lifts the eyelid is working. This will be discussed with you by your surgeon.

In cases such as myasthenia raves the treatment of the medical condition may be enough to correct the ptosis without surgery at all.

If you’re unsure what treatment you should go for, or the above treatments don’t work for you, our team of expert specialists are here to help.

The mainstay of treatment is surgery as this carried the best chance of complete removal and cure. The survival rate overall is high at over 95% for tumours that are detected and treated early. Other forms of treatment include radiotherapy, freezing or cryotherapy, chemotherapy and topical agents but the chance of success is lower than surgery for these.

If you’re unsure what treatment you should go for, or the above treatments don’t work for you, our team of expert specialists are here to help.