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During a concert in Las Vegas, singer Katy Perry suffered a kind of spasm in her right eye. For several seconds she seems unable to open it properly. What is the singer suffering from? The explanations of Dr Wilfrid Casseron, neurologist in Aix-en-Provence.
The video, posted on the TikTok social network, quickly went viral, with more than 19 million views in a few hours. We see the singer Katy Perry, in the middle of a concert, suffering from a kind of spasm of the right eyelid, which closes while her left eye is indeed open. After touching his temple twice, his right eye opens, then closes, before opening again. The singer then resumes the course of her show by asking the public to “make more noise for his group“.
What is Katy Perry suffering from?
Since the incident, the theories concerning the state of health of Orlando Bloom’s companion have been rife. Eye spasm? Lazy eye? Migraine? Asked the neurologist Wilfrid Casseron leans rather for a particular neurological symptom: blepharospasm.
What is blepharospasm?
“Blepharospasm belongs to the family of facial dystonias, which is an involuntary contraction of certain muscles. Blepharospasm can affect one eye or both“explains the specialist first. “Very often, the cause is unknown, we then speak of primary or idiopathic blepharospasm. This is the case for more than 90% of blepharospasms. For the others, it is blepharospasms that appear after a stroke or a head trauma. “. Strong light, anxiety and fatigue are three things that can make this symptom worse.
What parts of the brain are affected?
In blepharospasm, the brain structures involved, which can be damaged, are the thalamus, the head of the caudate nucleus, the striatum and the cerebellum. “Blepharospasm is sometimes due to improper use of interneurons, which no longer play their inhibitory role. In this case, the contraction will increase because it will no longer be inhibited, as is the case here, it seems, for the eye of Katy Perry” further details the specialist.
What are the induced muscle mechanisms?
The muscles concerned here are the orbicularis muscle of the eyelid, a ring-shaped muscle around the eye, and the levator muscle of the upper eyelid which controls, as its name suggests, the eyelid.
“In blepharospasm, we find ourselves faced with a greater hyperaction of the orbicularis muscle of the eyelid facing the levator muscle of the upper eyelid. It is these involuntary contractions that induce blinking of the eye, more or less repeated“. After a consultation with the neurologist, to rule out other diagnoses such as tics or palpebral myoclonus, when the eyelid twitches, the patient will have to undergo an MRI.
The treatment for blepharospasm is the injection of small doses of botulinum toxin. “It’s done by a hospital neurologist. The goal of botulinum toxin is not to freeze the muscle here, but rather to relax it. The operation will have to be repeated every four to six months or so.” When dystonia affects the entire face and more simply the eye, we then speak of Meige syndrome.