Objective demonstration of eyelid spasm relief with smartphone and custom software in hemifacial spasm patients.

PURPOSE: To objectively demonstrate eyelid spasms relief in hemifacial spasm (HFS) patients using a smartphone and a custom-made software.

METHODS

Nineteen patients with HFS had standardized videos recorded with a smartphone (iPhone 6S, Apple) camera before and 15 days after receiving onabotulinumtoxinA injections. Nineteen age-matched control subjects were also assessed. The Eye Aspect Ratio (EAR) is an algorithm previously described to determine whether the eye is opened or closed. When the eye is closed, EAR tends to be closer to zero. Analogously, if the eye is wide open, values are greater. A custom-made software using the EAR concept was developed and pre- and post-treatment EARs were analyzed to assess HFS patients.

RESULTS

Botulinum toxin (BoNT) injections led to a significant increase in the average EAR of the affected side: + 10.4% (p = 0.0175) of HFS patients, compared to baseline. Mean EAR before BoNT applications were significantly lower (16.2%) on the affected side (0.25 ± 0.05) of HFS patients when compared to controls (0.30 ± 0.05, p = 0.004). After BoNT injections, no statistically significant difference was observed for the average EAR between the affected side of HFS patients (0.27 ± 0.04) and controls (p = 0.20).

CONCLUSIONS

Use of a smartphone and custom-made software objectively demonstrated eyelid spasm relief in patients with HFS. Additional refinement of this system could permit more accurate assessments of treatment response rates for each patient, making it possible to be used in clinical practice.