Horner's syndrome
- Horner’s syndrome is a condition caused by damage to the sympathetic nervous system (cervical sympathetic chain or central pathways)
- Clinical features:
- Ptosis (paralysis of muller’s muscle – part of levator palpebrae superioris)
- Miosis (constricted pupil – sympathetic supply is responsible for dilation of pupil)
- Anhidrosis (decreased sweating on affected side of face)
- Enophthalmos (appearance of a sunken eyeball – apparent rather than real) – Read Mechanism of enophthalmos in Horner’s syndrome
- Loss of ciliospinal reflex
- Diagnosis
- Can be easily diagnosed by clinical signs
- In case of doubtful cases, it can be confirmed by instilling 4% cocaine eyedrops
- Cocaine acts by blocking uptake of adrenaline
- In normal eye, it causes mydriasis (dilatation of pupil)
- In Horner’s syndrome, there is no mydriasis as adrenaline is not released
- Also known as (synonyms)
- Bernard-Horner syndrome
- Oculosympathetic palsy
