'Eyes tight shut case' confounds experts

Sep 30 2008

The case of an Australian woman unable to open her eyes on three days of each week is confounding doctors.

The 21 year old woman from Melbourne is able to see with perfect vision for part of the week but her eyes become tightly closed for the rest.

Doctors at the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital are at a loss to explain the bizarre occurrence and say there is no apparent cause and the mysterious condition has them puzzled.

Natalie Adler has lived with this affliction since she was 17 and says she has learned to adjust - she says her eyes are closed for three days and then open for three days and says the spasms began intermittently and randomly, but within a few weeks they were closing for three days at a time.

The effect happens overnight on the third night, when she goes to bed she can open her eyes and then the next day she is unable to open them.

For two years injections of Botox around her eyes were effective and enabled her to see for five days out of six, but now the treatment no longer works.

Experts believe she may be the only person in the world with this condition, and they have no diagnosis which explains the degree of spasming and eyelid closure.

Experts in neuro-ophthalmology say the closest medical condition is blepharospasm, which causes an involuntary closing of the eyes, but still does not explain why Adler's eyes close according to a routine.

When Adler's eyes are closed her only vision is through a small slit in her left eye and when they are open, she can see clearly, but her left eyelid droops.

Adler also suffers from fatigue and nausea but she is optimistic that electrical stimulation tests around her eyes might help the condition.