As eyelid specialists, we are often referred patients who have eye irritation that is worse in the mornings. On closer evaluation, they have significant laxity of the eyelids causing them to evert overnight and the eye is irritated from exposure. This syndrome is also associated with obstructive sleep apnea and obesity.
Dr. Srinivas Iyengar published one of the first articles on how to quantitatively assess this syndrome. Conservative treatment involves lubricating ointment and taping the eyelid closed overnight. Eventually, if that does not work, tightening the eyelids with an outpatient procedure that takes about 30 minutes, resolves this irritation.
(Published in Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. Iyengar SS, Khan JA.
Quantifying upper eyelid laxity in symptomatic floppy eyelid syndrome by measurement of anterior eyelid distraction. Ophth Plast Reconstr Surg 2007; 23:255.)
