Coexistent Meige's syndrome and myasthenia gravis. A relationship between blinking and extraocular muscle fatigue?
We studied five patients with a combination of Meige's syndrome (blepharospasm-oromandibular dystonia) and myasthenia gravis. The coexistence of two disorders impairing eyelid opening led to diagnostic confusion and delayed appropriate therapy. Detailed oculographic monitoring of one patient indicated that eye position drifting due to myasthenic oculomotor fatigue was corrected by eye blinks, and that blinks tended to occur with slower saccades. Our observations suggest that fatigue of extraocular muscles may lead to synkinetic blinking and perhaps eventually to autonomous blepharospasm.
D000368:Aged; D001480:Basal Ganglia Diseases / Q000150:complications*; D001763:Blepharoptosis / Q000150:complications; D001767:Blinking; D004585:Electrooculography; D005221:Fatigue / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008538:Meige Syndrome / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009157:Myasthenia Gravis / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology; D009801:Oculomotor Muscles / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012438:Saccades; D013934:Thymectomy