No, sir, I am not winking at you.
It's a feeling so subtle, yet so annoying. You’re minding your own business when suddenly your eye starts twitching.
While you probably just write it off as one of those things, there are
actually a few reasons why eye twitching can crop up—and it doesn’t just
happen to you.
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“This is very common,” Mark Blecher, M.D., eye surgeon and co-director of Wills Eye Hospital Primary Eye Care,
tells SELF. When it feels like your eye is twitching, it’s actually
your eyelid muscle (known as the orbicularis oculi) that’s spasming, Dr.
Blecher explains. “It can happen several times in a row and then stops,
and for some people it can happen again later on that same day,” he
says.
There’s actually a technical term for
this—myokymia—and it happens due to misfiring of neurons in your eyelid
muscle, JP Maszczak, O.D., assistant professor of clinical optometry, at
The Ohio State University College of Optometry, tells SELF. “This is
typically a benign condition around one eye that most people will deal
with on at least a few occasions throughout their lifetime,” he says.
Of
course, eye twitching can strike at the worst moments and it’s probably
not the look you’re going for on a regular basis. So then, it’s
understandable that you'd want to try to keep future eyelid spasms at
bay. Here are the most common reasons for eye twitching, plus what you
can do to lower your risk of developing it again.
1.
You have an eyelid infection.
Eyelid
inflammation, which often happens due to a condition called
blepharitis, is a big cause of eye twitching, says Dr. Blecher.
Blepharitis often happens when bacteria gets into your eyelids, causing
inflammation and redness, which makes your muscles twitchy, he explains.
If you’re suffering from blepharitis, he recommends taking a
washcloth, wetting it with hot water, and holding it over your eye for a
few minutes a few times a day. “That can go a long way toward making
things better and stopping the twitching,” Dr. Blecher says.
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2.
You’re stressed out.
You’re
up against a crazy work deadline and suddenly your eyelid starts acting
weird. While super annoying, this is also totally normal. Stress causes
a release of adrenergic chemicals like cortisol and adrenaline,
triggering your body’s fight or flight response, John Hovanesian, M.D.,
an eye surgeon at Harvard Eye Associates
in Laguna Hills, Calif., tells SELF. “These can cause muscles to be
more sensitive and irritable than usual,” he says. Unfortunately, any
sort of stress, whether it’s chronic or sudden can cause your eyelid to
spasm, says Dr. Blecher
3.
You had too much caffeine or chocolate.
The
caffeine in coffee and chocolate can cause hyperactivity of the nerves
and muscles around the eyelid, leading to eyelid twitching. “I
definitely see more benign eyelid twitching right after Valentine’s Day
because someone ate too much chocolate,” says Amy Zimmerman, M.D., an
ophthalmologist with Katzen Eye Group.
Luckily, Dr. Zimmerman says the random twitching should go away once
you cut back on your caffeine intake. Anything that stimulates your
nervous system will predispose you to eye twitching, Dr. Blecher says,
but it doesn’t happen in everyone. So if you know that you’re prone to
getting a twitchy eye after you have too much caffeine, it’s best to
watch how much you have in the future.
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4.
You’re super tired.
When you’re wiped out,
your sympathetic nervous system, which controls a lot of your
involuntary activities, kicks into high gear. And, as a result, your
eyelid might start twitching. “For some reason it gets worse the more
fatigued you are,” Dr. Zimmerman says. The easiest way to resolve it is
by getting more sleep, she says, which may be easier said than done.
Most
cases of eyelid twitching don’t need to be evaluated by a doctor, Dr.
Maszczak says. But, if the spasming worsens and includes one side of
your face or cause your eyelids to close involuntarily, you should call
your eye doctor, he says—it could be a sign of a corneal abrasion, dry eyes,
or a neurological condition. Most of the time, eye twitching will stop
within one to two weeks, but if it’s severe and unrelenting, Botox
injections may be helpful, Dr. Maszczak says.
If
you experience random eyelid twitching, take a beat and think about
what could be causing it. It could be your body’s way of telling you
it’s time to de-stress, cut back on the caffeine, or call it an early
night tonight—or all three.
