Your eyes

Eye conditions

PTOSIS

What is Ptosis?
Ptosis is the drooping of the upper eyelid. It can affect both children as well as adults. Your eyelid may droop only slightly or it may droop so much as to cover the entire pupil (the hole in the coloured part of your eye) blocking or restricting the vision. It may affect one or both of your eyes.

What is ptosis caused by?
Ptosis can be present at birth (congenital ptosis) or develop due to aging, injury or an after effect of cataract surgery or other corrective eye surgery.
This condition also can be caused by a problem with the muscles lifting the eyelid, called levators.
An eye tumor, neurological disorder like stroke, myasthenia gravis, Horner syndrome or systemic disease like diabetes are other causes of drooping eyelids.

Do I have Ptosis? (Signs and Symptoms)
Patients with ptosis often have difficulty keeping their eyelids open. To compensate, they will often arch their eyebrows in an effort to raise the drooping eyelids. In severe cases, people with ptosis may need to lift their eyelids with their fingers in order to see. The degree of droopiness varies from one person to the other. If you think you may have ptosis, compare a recent photo of your face with one from 10 or 20 years ago, and you'll likely see a difference in the eyelid position.
Sometimes children may tilt their heads back or raise their eyebrows repeatedly to try and see under the eyelids.

What are the complications of Ptosis?
An uncorrected drooping eyelid can lead to amblyopia (loss of vision in that eye) in children.

An abnormal eyelid position can have negative psychological effects like poor self-esteem especially in teenagers and young children.

You may have headaches due to tension in your forehead muscles.

Decreased vision can affect your daily activities especially driving, using a flight of stairs etc.

How is Ptosis treated?
• If the Ptosis is caused by an underlying disease, treatment specific to that disease is given.

Ptosis can be corrected surgically and usually involves tightening the levator muscle to elevate the eyelid. In severe ptosis, when the levator muscle is extremely weak, a “sling” operation may be performed, enabling the forehead muscles to elevate the eyelid(s). The surgeon will perform testing to determine the best form of correction for the individual patient. The goal is to elevate the eyelid to permit a full field of vision and to achieve symmetry with the opposite upper eyelid.