What are the symptoms of sagging eyelids in middle-aged women

Ptosis is the drooping of the upper eyelid, which can be congenital or acquired. It mainly means that the eyelid's function completely or partially disappears, so the upper eyelid will not be lifted. When looking forward, it gives people the feeling that they cannot open their eyes. This situation happens a lot in middle-aged women, probably because they don't pay attention to skin care on a daily basis. So, what are the clinical manifestations of droopy eyelids in middle age?

Clinical manifestations

1. Neurogenic ptosis

This is the result of a loss of innervation. Common causes: ① Oculomotor nerve palsy is often combined with other symptoms of cranial nerve III palsy; ② Oculomotor nerve palsy is less common, characterized by oculomotor nerve palsy on the same side after unilateral migraine; ③ Horner syndrome occurs after sympathetic nerve damage; ④ Synkinetic ptosis (Marcus Gunn syndrome).

2. Myogenic ptosis

Ptosis is caused by defects in the levator palpebrae superioris muscle, such as congenital dysplasia, myasthenia gravis, muscular atrophy, oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy, and eye trauma that affects the contraction function of the levator palpebrae superioris muscle. This type of ptosis can be divided into three types: mild (1-2mm), moderate (3-4mm), and severe (5-6mm). The function of the levator palpebrae superioris muscle can be described as: good (>8mm), fair (5-7mm), and poor (4mm or less). This is only used to estimate the amount of congenital ptosis. If it is used for surgical correction of the same amount of acquired ptosis, it will normally result in overcorrection.

3. Aponeuroticptosis

It is due to the conduction disorder of the levator palpebrae superioris muscle. The levator aponeurosis is weak due to aponeurosis defect or tear. The aponeurosis may also be infiltrated or replaced by fatty tissue. Aponeurotic ptosis may occur after various types of eye surgery and may be caused by postoperative eyelid edema or excessive extension of the patient's eye when covering the eye, injuring the delicate aponeurosis. The typical manifestation of aponeurotic defects is an exaggerated or blurred eyelid crease (double eyelid), and the eyelid above the tarsal plate is so thin that the pupil can be seen from here even when the patient closes the eyelid.

4. Mechanical ptosis

It is often caused by various eyelid tumors, blepharoplasty, etc., and can also be caused by eyelid scars affecting the movement of the levator palpebrae superioris muscle.

Different types of surgery require different surgical methods. For those who have congenital ptosis and incomplete or lost upper eyelid muscle function in one or both eyes, when they open their eyes naturally and look straight ahead, the upper eyelid edge will cover the upper edge of the cornea by more than 3mm in mild cases, moderate ptosis will cover 1/2 of the cornea, and severe ptosis will cover more than 1/2 of the cornea or the entire cornea. For many friends with ptosis, when they look up, the eyebrow on the drooping side will stand up, and the frontalis muscle will contract to compensate for the insufficient function of the levator palpebrae superioris muscle. At this time, the patient's forehead skin will have obvious horizontal wrinkles.

For middle-aged people who have droopy eyelids, surgical treatment cannot be used. Because surgical treatment is used for congenital ptosis, and the best age for surgery is between two and three years old. It is recommended that middle-aged women with sagging eyelids should use tea leaves to treat them. Just apply tea leaves brewed with boiling water directly on your eyelids. Doing this every day will have a therapeutic effect.