title: [Ptosis--clinical differential diagnosis].
abstract: When examining a patient with ptosis the first question to be answered is whether the condition is a simple constitutional variant or a symptom heralding disease. Local diseases of the eyelid may lead to pseudoptosis. The three major disease categories to be considered are: myopathies preferentially affecting the eye muscles; impaired neuromuscular impulse transmission at the motor endplate (myasthenia gravis, botulism); and lesions of the somatomotor (third cranial nerve) and visceromotor (sympathetic) nerve fibers innervating the eyelid muscles. The correct diagnosis may be suspected in the light of a detailed patient history and associated signs on general and neurological examination. Additional investigations may be needed to confirm the diagnosis.
authors.affiliation: Neurologische Universitätsklinik, Inselspital Bern.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sturzenegger
mesh_terms: D001763:Blepharoptosis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005143:Eyelids / Q000294:innervation; D006801:Humans; D009468:Neuromuscular Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D009886:Ophthalmoplegia / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology; D013564:Sympathetic Nervous System / Q000503:physiopathology; D009435:Synaptic Transmission
vernacular_title: Ptose--klinische Differentialdiagnose.