Facial twitches DDx
Overview
Recurrent facial twitches are most commonly due to hemifacial spasm, but this needs to be distinguished from other causes.
Causes
- Hemifacial spasm ( most common cause of recurrent facial twitches; peripherally induced, starts with eye then spreads, mild CN7 LMN weakness with slightly closed palpebral fissure)
- Essential blepharospasm (bilateral)
- Focal seizures (uncommonly localise to the face, e.g. epilepsia partialis continua)
- Facial myokymia (subtle, continuous, ripple-like quivering, usually over small areas of the face)
- Facial tics (usually not limited to one side)
- Bell palsy with aberrant regeneration and synkinesia (history CN7 LMN weakness preceding twitching)
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Critical Care
Compendium
Chris is an Intensivist and ECMO specialist at the Alfred ICU in Melbourne. He is also a Clinical Adjunct Associate Professor at Monash University. He is a co-founder of the Australia and New Zealand Clinician Educator Network (ANZCEN) and is the Lead for the ANZCEN Clinician Educator Incubator programme. He is on the Board of Directors for the Intensive Care Foundation and is a First Part Examiner for the College of Intensive Care Medicine. He is an internationally recognised Clinician Educator with a passion for helping clinicians learn and for improving the clinical performance of individuals and collectives.
After finishing his medical degree at the University of Auckland, he continued post-graduate training in New Zealand as well as Australia’s Northern Territory, Perth and Melbourne. He has completed fellowship training in both intensive care medicine and emergency medicine, as well as post-graduate training in biochemistry, clinical toxicology, clinical epidemiology, and health professional education.
He is actively involved in in using translational simulation to improve patient care and the design of processes and systems at Alfred Health. He coordinates the Alfred ICU’s education and simulation programmes and runs the unit’s education website, INTENSIVE. He created the ‘Critically Ill Airway’ course and teaches on numerous courses around the world. He is one of the founders of the FOAM movement (Free Open-Access Medical education) and is co-creator of litfl.com, the RAGE podcast, the Resuscitology course, and the SMACC conference.
His one great achievement is being the father of three amazing children.
On Twitter, he is @precordialthump.
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