13 yr old w/facial eye tick

My daughter is 13 yrs old and has recently developed an eye tick after having an irritating sty.  She's very bright and is active in gymnastics and dance.  She has a nice social life with plenty of nice friends.  Now she is constantly blinking or squinting her eyes.  She is getting more and more stressed about the problem.  I first tried just ignoring it, when that didn't work I told her to really concentrate on not doing it.  That is not working.  Other kids are starting to ask her about which is making it worse.  I feel like it might be anxiety driven so in the last month I have made her life as stress free as possible, even though her over all lifestyle is fun.  Any suggestions?

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

While stress can exacerbate a tic, stress is not the cause of tics. These involuntary muscle movements are not subject to the person's voluntary control, so it will be fruitless for your daughter to try to stop them by willpower. It may be that she the behavior is not a true tic, but is the result of some ongoing irritation. Has she seen an ophthalmologist? If not, it would make sense, and if she has already seen the specialist she should return for another look.

[Nikki77]

Bailee started this when she was 7yrs old.  I found out the cause was from caffeine.  She was drinking too much tea at her fathers.  They switched to decaff and she's been free of them since.  How much caffeine does she take in?

[kerryd]

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[stexas]

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