etiology of excessive blinking in children and adolescents in hamedan, iran

purpose: to evaluate the etiologies of excessive blinking in children and teenagers less than 18 years of age in hamedan, iran. methods: this study was performed during 2009-2010 as a cross-sectional study on 50 children and teenagers less than 18 years old who were referred to sheikh-al-reis and farshchian clinics in hamedan for abnormal and excessive blinking. ophthalmic and neurologic examinations were performed and recorded for each patient. pediatric psychologist and pediatrician if seen necessary also examined the patients. results: mean age of the patients was 10.5 years and mean duration of blinking was 3.8 weeks. chief complaints included increased blinking rate in 45 cases, increased blinking force in 17 patients and both of them in 12 subjects. blinking increased with light exposure in 11 patients. signs and symptoms of eye diseases such as visual loss, pain, red eye, photophobia, strabismus and corneal involvement were present in 25 patients. etiologies of excessive blinking were eye-related in 25 patients (50%), neurological in 21 cases (42%) and psychological in 4 patients (8%). conclusion: the most prevalent etiology of excessive blinking in this study was related to diseases; followed by psychological and neurologic causes. therefore, we recommend eye examination in all of these patients. if necessary, psychological and neurological examinations were recommended as well.