Can I physically feel if I have droopy eyelids?

Whilst you may not be able to feel the weakness or tear in the levator mechanism (the muscle system) that lifts your upper eyelids, you can certainly feel the weight and have symptoms from droopy eyelids. Here are some of the common symptoms that my patients report:

1. Fatigue over the forehead or above the eyelids (usually in between the eyes)

2. Sense of heaviness over the upper eyelids

3. Headaches usually at the end of the day of after prolonged computer use

Some people have these symptoms for years and they do not realise that they have droopy eyelids or ptosis. They may have been told by others that they look sleepy or tired. Significant ptosis is a medical condition and its treatment is covered by Medisave or Insurance.

Hope this helps. All the best!

No. This is not something that you can feel, it’s not a traditional muscle tear or injury. Let’s say you go to a gym or doing sports, you know when you have torn your muscle because it gets very painful, ptosis is not like that, you do not have or feel a sudden acute pain, you do not feel anything snap, it’s not this sudden event but more like a cumulative injury to the tendon. So it may be many years of eye rubbing or many years contact lens wear, things like that, it’s not an acute event. Do not think of it like you are playing sports and suddenly you have a tear, and your eye droops down, that is more unusual. We do get that occasionally from acute trauma where they might have an eye injury or injury in the eye area, and it tears the muscle but those are very unusual cases.