Excessive Blinking

Do your eyes go wild twitching hysterically every now and then, or do you find yourself blinking really hard when in stress? Blinking is a voluntary eye action that not only protects the eye from external irritants but also keeps the eye ‘on tears’ almost every time, though literally. A normal human being bats his eye for almost 15,000 times in a day, which is the average count for normal eye blinks. However, if your eyes blink out of sync, or abnormally higher than the average count, then it is time you gave your batting peeps a serious thought. Although there is nothing wrong with constant eye blinking, which may often be the annoying upshot of house dust mites, allergens or air, at times rapid twitching and blinking may be the indicators of serious eye disorders and muscle spasms. If you are someone who is frequently bogged down by rapid eye blinking, then checking out its causes will leave you with an informed idea about your overactive lids. To know more on this, read on.

Do your eyes frequently burn, scratch, sting or feel gritty? Lack of lubrication or dry eye is a common optic problem that can trigger severe discomfort in the eye, causing one to bat their eyelashes more than normal. When the tear glands wear out, the body produces fewer tears leading to dry eyes due to the lack of tears. Blinking replaces the reflex tears with lubricating tears, thereby saving the eye from getting all dried-up and itchy.

 

‘Blepharospasm’ or eyelid spasm, a neurological disorder, is opined as one of the primary causes behind involuntary eye twitching. This eye condition, characterized by sustained muscle contraction and spasms, can trigger involuntary batting of the eyelids that may come and go off and on or last for a few days causing persistent blinking in the eye.

 

Nothing can be a more maddening than a speck of dust or extra bit of eye makeup floating in the eye! Anything from allergens to eyelashes to contact lenses and cosmetics in the conjunctiva or the cornea can irritate the eye and cause it to flicker excessively. The best way to get rid of it is to do away with the foreign object at once and rinse your eyes with a cold splash.

 

Occasional eye twitching is normal, but intense blinking can be a sign of neurological disorder, triggered by severe brain anomalies. Brain tumors to brain infections can affect our eyesight and cause involuntary blinking of the eye.

 

Absence seizures, meaning abnormal electrical activity in the brain, leading to impaired consciousness and reduced alertness, can cause rapid eye blinking in patients. This type of seizure is more common in kids and can trigger involuntary batting of the lids.

 

Excessive blinking is often deemed as an annoying upshot of vision problems like poor eyesight and other visual disturbances like blurred vision, blind spots, floaters and more. Any changes in vision or blurriness can undermine our optic abilities to see clearly, thereby causing us to blink more than necessary to minimize the irritation.

 

A sudden fear, trepidation or worry can stress your eyes and get your eyes blinking hard. Anxiety disorder is deemed as one of the primary causes behind rapid eye blinking. Fretting too hard over anything or any kind of mental strain can cause muscle spasms in the eyelid, thereby leading to excessive blinking.