Horizontal eyelid movement on eyelid closure.
OBJECTIVE
When performing ptosis surgery, a suture is placed between the levator and the tarsal plate at the point of the desired peak. This placement is done while the patient's eye is closed, but its effects are observed with the patient's eye open. Unaccounted-for horizontal eyelid movement on eyelid closing may therefore adversely affect the desired outcome. The purpose of this study was to characterize the horizontal translation of the eyelid on closing the eyes.


METHODS
In this experimental case series study, a randomly selected upper eyelid of normal subjects, subjects with ptosis, and subjects with exophthalmos, ages 21 through 70, was studied to determine the horizontal eyelid movement on closing the eyes by videotape analysis of the movement of dots placed above the eyelid margin and on the eyelid crease above the center of the pupil.


RESULTS
The eyelid translation on closing the eye is medial and varies among subjects from 0.1 mm to 3.5 mm. The movement is usually greater at the eyelid margin than at the eyelid crease.


CONCLUSIONS
The amount of horizontal eyelid translation on closing the eyes is clinically significant in many people. The clinical impact of this finding should affect how ptosis surgery is performed. The desired point of peaking of the eyelid should be marked at the beginning of the case with the eyes open and the mark used as a guideline for placing the suture that will determine the peak.
Frueh
Bartley R
BR
Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, W. K. Kellogg Eye Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48105, USA. freuh@umich.edu
Hassan
Adam S
AS
Musch
David C
DC
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001763:Blepharoptosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D001767:Blinking / Q000502:physiology*; D005094:Exophthalmos / Q000503:physiopathology; D005133:Eye Movements / Q000502:physiology*; D005143:Eyelids / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009801:Oculomotor Muscles / Q000502:physiology; D014741:Video Recording