Why Do My Eyelids Twitch?

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There’s a saying that “twitching on the left eyelid forecasts fortune, while twitching on the right eyelid forecasts disaster.” While it’s true that eyelids do occasionally twitch, an abnormally twitching eyelid is a health warning from the body.

Why Do Eyelids Keep Twitching?

It’s an annoyance---short term twitching is distracting, and long term twitching starts to affect your quality of life. Why does it happen all of a sudden? This is related to the instability of the nerves around the eyelids and the abnormal discharge of electricity. Sometimes this may even cause the lower eyelids to twitch.

Possible causes are:

1. Lifestyle factors: Fatigue, staying up late, stress, tension, and anxiety can all cause abnormal discharge of electricity around the eyes, meaning unstable nerves around the eyes
2. Drinking too much coffee and alcohol, as too much caffeine or alcohol causes neurosensitivity
3. Drug side effects: In fact, epilepsy drugs may have side effects that cause eye twitching
4. Eye diseases, eye overuse, dry eyes, or eye allergies
5. Other diseases including brain tumor of hemangioma, hemifacial spasm, bacterial infection, shingles virus infection.

“Most of the rapid eyelid twitching is benign,” said Dr. Lin Chih-hao, a neurologist at Lin Shin Hospital who often sees patients with eyelid twitching in his clinic.