What does a third-nerve palsy look like and what causes it?
With an oculomotor nerve palsy, the eye is turned down and out. This is because almost every eye muscle is affected. The only muscles still in action are the abducens (turn the eye outwards) and the superior oblique (move the eye down).
Causes for third nerve palsy include an ischemic event from diabetes or hypertension. Also, an aneurysm pushing on the nerve. at the junction of the internal carotid and posterior communicating arteries.
very good illustration
Very true, just try picking up woman with this condition… its a completely self-evident truth.
A CSF leak and subsequent brain sag will pull on your CN3’s. With long-term brain sag you’ll develop subdural hematomas and hygromas that will often effect one eye at side of the hematoma. One pupil being larger than the other is common.
Due to a mistreated diabetes I was struck by an ischemia at the 3 optical nerve. Severe diplopia followed. I’m 73 and never suffered of anythhing the whole life.Do you think that by simply taking care of diabetes I can get rid of diplopia. Grateful x your opinion Michelangelo
I have had a third nerve palsy since I was four, the cause was never found possibly late onset congenital. I had a laugh at the illustration, it was me before some corrective surgery, now my left eye stares straight ahead. It’s not perfect but better than looking down and out.
I find that I get more attention because the droopy eyelid, men them think I’m winking at them, lol.
I was recently (3+ weeks ago)a passenger in a vehicle that was involved in an accident. I lost consciousness & suffered a severe concussion & was also diagnosed with third nerve palsy, or as I prefer to tell people “third cranial nerve damage”. Apparently it is the severe form as the eyeball is down & out, pupil dilated, & eyelid unable to open. My Neurologist & Ophthalmologist both explained about the 6-month wait to see if it would correct itself but both said if not that surgery could fix it. But now, in reading info on-line regarding this injury as well as the story above, I am not so hopeful & optimistic for a full recovery of this. It seems as though the surgery would align my eye but as the woman previously commented on here the eye would stare straight ahead. And I as well get comments about “winking” at people…lol. But I’m not sure which would be worse..?? And as a 47-year old single woman this is very disturbing. If anyone has any encouraging info or success stories…please email me at bethlysek@hotmail.com …thanks 🙂
My second daughter also suffering from 3rd nerve Pulsy. Neorologist refer to the phesheotherapist. But tere is no improvement.
eye: down and out
eyelid: ptosis (if it covers the pupil, the patient doesn’t have diplopia)
pupil: may be affected – dilated (compressive lesion) or unaffected (ischemic lesion)
good answer
I am now suffering with eye palsy,this is my 3rd time in 9 years,iam 71 years old I have real bad head aches when i first come down with palsy.Does anyone else have these head aches?
I just been diagnosed with left 3rd nerve palsy but it is not yet determined. I am now waiting for an appointment with a neuro-ophthalmologist. Kind of worried but what should I expect? I’m a healthy 20 year old woman and this suddenly happened =(
I have been suffering with third nerve palsy for over a month. I have been so depressed and I want nothing to do with the outside world any more. I had a MRI to the brain done and thankfully nothing wrong with the brain, but the eye doctor said I suffered a stroke. I am living scared to death as I am now stumbling, nauseated, dizzy, and I just don’t know what to think. In two days, I go back to my eye doctor. I am a woman age 60. I keep my affected eye covered so I can see better out of my better eye. Please, will someone write to me if you suffer this. What can I expect in the future? At times, I can focus the eye but only for a short time. Please write to me as I am truly falling apart. Thank you.
I have had third nerve palsy for seven years . At first my eyelid was completely shut .. Men thought I was winking at them too !…but over the following two years it opened , not fully but enough to look almost normal . I have double vision all the time but now I only notice it if I think about it so I try not to ! I used to be embarrassed cos when I look down one eye stays open and people have stared but now I am not bothered… I just get on with my life . I acquired third nerve palsy from a traumatic brain injury and it was certainly traumatic for a long time but I have got used to the condition over the years .
I was in a car accident in December 2012 & have been dealing with this ever since. Yesterday I learned that my cooperative eye has worsening vision. The uncooperative one could see the pretty small lines, but not the cooperative eye. Anyone else have issues with your “good” eye now?
I’ve recently been diagnosed with third eye palsy but was not in an accident nor hit my head. I just woke up one day with double vision. After the 3rd day of hoping it would go away I went to the hospital and they kept me for 3 days doing all kinds of tests.After the 3rd day the neurologist told me I had Third Nerve Palsy and said it would go away on its own. I’ve had it for well over a week and half and I’m using an eyepatch. My roommate says to switch the eye patch from eye to eye after 45 minutes. I’m not sure which eye should be covered so I just did what he said. So far nothing has changed. I was in the middle of applying for jobs right when this hit me. I am a server/bartender and definitely can not work nor interview in this condition. Is there anyone who could please give me some advice on how to deal with this issue before I lose everything? I’d greatly appreciate any advice. You can also email me: andrealsamara@gmail.com that’s an L as my middle initial. Please and thanks to anyone who can give me some advice on treating and or dealing with this horrible diagnosis.
AndreaLynn – Based on everything that I’ve read as well as my eye surgeon’s advice, the usual thing is to use the “wait and see” approach when it first happens because a lot of people just heal (go back to normal) on their own. If you do surgery or something & then it heals, it can throw it off. After 2 years of waiting & seeing the eye surgeon every six months, he determined that it had been two visits (a year) since he saw any improvement in me, so we talked surgery. On 12/23/14, he put two stitches in the muscle of the “good” eye so that it would stop turning where the “uncooperative” eye stopped. This has REALLY helped my vision!! Now, instead of seeing multiple people or things with the double vision, I just see like I’m watching a 3-D movie without the 3-D glasses. And the 3-D is only on things to the left or when I look down or up pretty far, so I’m not having to wear the patch any more when I drive. I don’t regret the 2 stitches at all, but you do need to wait a little before doing anything that’s permanent just in case it heals some on its own. When I first became aware of things after a car wreck that I was in (2012), my eye wouldn’t even open. So it has improved some on its own.
Thank you Sherry you have put my mind at ease! We’re praying for improvement being that my husband just found out yesterday 8/4/2017. How are you now? My husband feels miserable the double vision is making him feel horrible. I wish I could do something to help him. He has type 2 diabetes so this is what caused his problem. I pray we don’t do surgery so we’re going to wait. What kind of dr did you see for this? We just went to our regular eye doctor and after testing he told my husband right away what he had..
Thanks again and God bless all of you