A female patient, who was suffering from jaw wink -- a rare eye deformity -- since birth has got a new lease of life at a Delhi-based hospital.
'Marcus Gunn Jaw Winking Syndrome' -- a rare congenital condition that Asha (name changed) was born with involves a drooping eyelid that briefly opens wider and appears to wink when the jaw is moved.
The condition is known to occur in one among a thousand people. It is caused due to abnormal connections between the nerves that control the muscle that lifts the upper eyelid and the muscles that help in chewing, which causes the "jaw wink".
The condition was surgically treated by the doctors at Aakash Healthcare Super Speciality Hospital with the help of an advanced LPS (Levatorpalpebrae superioris) muscle surgical procedure.
"Reeta was born with the rare eye disorder where her eyelid moves up and down with movement of the jaw, while speaking or while chewing," Vidya Nair Chaudhry, senior consultant (Ophthalmology) at the hospital was quoted as saying by The Times of India.
She further explained that when the woman was examined, the doctors could see that the lid droop was actually very minimal but the eyelid movement with jaw movement was very noticeable. "One of the most severe jaw winking cases that we had ever see," said the consultant.
In a case of simple ptosis – drooping or falling of the upper eyelid – a surgical tightening of the weak LPS muscle is done for the treatment. Referring to the woman's case, Chaudhry said such a procedure would correct the ptosis but would make the jaw wink even more prominent.
"The only thing left to do is to completely remove the LPS muscle and replace that with an implant. The removal of the muscle results in a total lid droop, a total ptosis, and then a frontal sling is placed within the lid," Chaudhry explained.
"This is a silicone sling implant that then connects the eyelid to the frontalis muscle of the forehead above the eyebrow, and this muscle then lifts the eyelid up. That way, both the wink and the ptosis are corrected," she added.
There was no jaw wink after the surgery, the lid position was ideal and also, the patient is doing fine, Chaudhry said.
