Diseases around the eyebrows
Muscle twitches are generally referred to as involuntary twitches of individual muscles, fibres or bundles. A distinction is made between different types of twitching: The twitching of the eyebrows is usually a benign symptom and often speaks of overwork and lack of sleep, as well as severe stress. Tics are also common causes of twitching.
Here it is nervous system dysfunction, especially in the basal ganglia, that causes the tic. In most cases they are not harmful to health, but tics can make life much more difficult for patients if large muscle groups are affected. The phenomenon of twitching can last for hours, days or even weeks.
It is important to observe at first. If a worsening occurs, or further nervous failures or symptoms are added, it is important to consult a doctor immediately. Even if the muscle twitches last too long, you should consult a doctor to rule out nerve damage, because epilepsy can also cause muscle twitches.
Another important point is to rule out overload, lack of sleep or excessive stress as a cause. The twitching itself is caused by uncontrolled nerve potential charges. It is lightninglike contractions of the muscle bundles that are perceived as twitching.
- Fasciculations are twitches of individual muscle bundles that can be felt but do not cause any real movement. – Fibrillations are twitches of individual muscle fibres. Muscle fibres are the smallest contracting unit of a muscle.
If several fibres are combined, this is called a muscle bundle. – In the case of myoclonia, the whole muscle twitches. The twitching does not necessarily have to be visible.
- The strongest form of this twitching is tremor. In tremor, whole muscle areas are excited by uncontrolled nerve potential charges. Eyebrows grow for ten weeks and then fall out.
This is a normal, healthy process. Build-up and breakdown are in balance, so that the same amount of hairs should always be present in total. A simultaneous loss of all hairs is only caused by a pathological process and is called alopecia.
This can be congenital (called atrichia) or acquired. The most frequent reason in civilisation is the trend-related modulation of the eyebrow shape. Too frequent waxing, plucking or scorching can lead to the eyebrows not falling out directly, but at least not growing back.
A simultaneous loss of scalp hair usually has to do with chemotherapy of patients suffering from cancer. They also lose their eyelashes and other body hairs. This side effect is rarely caused by antidepressants and anticoagulants, and is also rare in certain chronic diseases.
As people get older, all body hair thins out, including that of the eyebrows. This is also a common normal process and cannot be stopped by cosmetic products that promise something to the contrary. The only means to “multiply” eyebrows or hair in general is surgical hair transplantationPain in the eyebrows can be triggered by a variety of causes.
They can be dull, throbbing or stinging. The pain can be limited to a narrow area or radiate into other areas of the head. Often, eyebrow pain is also caused by pain radiating into this area.
Headaches This can be the case, for example, with headaches. There are different types of headache, one of the most common is tension headache, probably caused by tense muscles in the neck. The pain often radiates into the forehead and also to the eyebrow.
Also migraine, an attack-like headache, radiates into the forehead and the area around the eye. Inflammation of the paranasal sinuses Another reason for pain radiating into the eyebrow can be inflammation of the paranasal sinuses. These are bony, air-filled cavities in the skull.
Some of these cavities, the frontal sinus (Sinus frontalis), the sphenoidal sinus (Sinus sphenoidales) and the ethmoid cellulae (Cellulae ethmoidales), are located near the eyes. An inflammation of these is often painful and radiates into the eyebrow. Irritation of the nerve In addition, pain in the eyebrow can be caused by an irritation of the nerve that transmits perceptions from the face to the brain.
This nerve is called the trigeminal nerve and has three main branches. The first of these three branches (opthalmic nerve) also supplies the eyebrow. For example, in the case of trigeminal neuralgia, strong pain occurs in these areas.
Broken bones in the area of the eyebrows Pain can also be caused by broken bones in the area of the eyebrows. The bones are often displaced and there is a swelling. Even a simple inflammation in the area of the eyebrow can cause pain.
The inflammation of a hair follicle of the eyebrows is particularly common. An inflammation is accompanied by swelling, redness, overheating and pain. One form of inflammation can be a pimple.
Pimples should never be expressed in the area of the eyebrows, as veins run here that also lead to the brain. Pathogens and inflammatory cells from pimples should never reach the brain, because in the worst case they can cause clots (thrombi) and inflammation.
