What's wrong with lips twitching? Beware of facial spasm

Normally we all experience eyelid twitching, but what about the lip twitching? If your lips twitch frequently, you should be alert to hemifacial spasm, which is prone to recurring. You need to take good care to avoid the disease.

1. Symptoms and Signs

Hemifacial twitching refers to the paroxysmal painless contraction of the muscles innervated by the facial nerve. The first symptom often begins with a slight twitch of the orbicularis oculi muscle of the lower eyelid, gradually spreading upward to all the orbicularis oculi muscles, and then to the lower facial muscles, especially the corners of the mouth. In severe cases, the entire facial muscles and the ipsilateral platysma muscles may spasm. Severe spasm of the orbicularis oculi muscle may make it impossible to open the eyes, thus affecting walking and work, and may be accompanied by mild weakness and muscle atrophy. It worsens when you are stressed, tired, or exercising on your own, and disappears during sleep. Facial muscle twitching is not accompanied by pain, and voluntary contraction of facial muscles is generally not affected when there is no facial muscle twitching.

Electromyography found that stimulation of the marginal mandibular branch induced the myoelectric potential of the musculus orbicular oculi (MOO), which is called the MD-OC response. Normal people do not have this reaction, but patients with hemifacial spasm all have the MD-OC reaction.

2. Preventive Care

1. This disease has a long course and recurrent attacks, which can easily affect daily life, so patients are prone to anxiety, tension, inferiority and other psychological problems. Patients should be encouraged to maintain an optimistic attitude, eliminate tension and negative emotions, build confidence in treatment, and actively cooperate with treatment.

2. Live a regular life, combine work and rest, and avoid overwork.

3. Maintain a good mood and avoid negative emotions such as mental tension, anxiety, and irritability.

4. Actively look for the cause and determine surgical or drug treatment options.