Horner’s syndrome is a rare disorder that affects the eye and nearby tissue on one side of the face. This condition can appear at any point in someone’s life; fewer than 1% of people are born with it. Typically, problems that arise from Horner’s syndrome don’t harm a person’s vision or health.
This disorder affects males and females equally and can happen in any age group, ethnic group or geographic location.
Horner’s syndrome is also known as Horner syndrome, Bernard-Horner syndrome, oculosympathetic palsy or von Passow syndrome. Horner’s syndrome is named after Swiss ophthalmologist Johann Friedrich Horner, who discovered and documented the disorder in 1869.
Horner’s syndrome symptoms
Several symptoms accompany Horner’s syndrome:
Drooping of the upper eyelid on the affected side
Constricted pupil in the affected eye (miosis), leading to unequal pupil size (anisocoria)
Absence of sweating (anhidrosis) on the affected side of the face.
Inability to open or completely close the eyelid
Facial flushing
Headaches
Pain
Someone with Horner’s syndrome also may experience sinking of the eye into its cavity (enophthalmos) and a bloodshot eye.
If Horner’s syndrome appears before age 2, the iris (colored part) of the affected eye may be lighter in color than the unaffected eye (iris heterochromia). People who are diagnosed with Horner’s syndrome after age 2 typically don’t have differences in eye color.
While vision and health normally aren’t harmed by Horner’s syndrome, the nerve damage that triggers this disorder may be a sign of other health problems.
Symptoms that may accompany Horner’s disease, but are not directly caused by it, include:
Vertigo, coupled with nausea and vomiting
Lack of muscle control and coordination
Arm pain, weakness and numbness
Neck and ear pain on one side of the body
Hoarseness
Hearing loss
Bowel and bladder problems
Overreaction to stimulation
Horner’s syndrome causes
Horner’s syndrome results from damage to the sympathetic nerves, which regulate dilation of our pupils and raising of our eyelids. Causes may include:
Snake or insect bite
Stroke
Birth trauma to the neck and shoulder
Trauma or surgery involving the neck, upper spinal cord or chest
Blood clot
Migraines or cluster headaches
Cyst in the spinal cord
Lymph node inflammation or growths
Tear in the carotid artery, which supplies blood to the head and neck
Demyelinating diseases, which are disorders of the nervous system
Chiari malformation, which affects the part of the brain that controls balance
Tumor In the brainstem, hypothalamus section of the brain, upper spinal cord, neck, eye, abdomen, chest cavity or upper part of the lung
Some cases of Horner syndrome occur for no apparent reason, according to the National Organization for Rare Disorders. In other cases, the disorder may be genetically inherited.
In children, one of the most common causes of Horner’s syndrome is neuroblastoma. Neuroblastoma is a cancer that starts in nerve cells (called neuroblasts) of the sympathetic nervous system.
