eye tick

[sally6]

My son is15 years old and for the last year or so I've noticed that he has developed an eye tick on his right eye. He has had it maybe three time and this has lasted about a month or so. It's gone away the last times which had happened in about 4 or 5 months, in the beginning of his school year a a freshman in a new school. It went away and now it's back since last week. What scared is that he got in a terrible mood and also his mouth was moving in a strange way at the same time that he twinked his eye. It looes like something was hurting him or that he was very uncomfortable. He doesn't tell us anything about it. I think he's starting to feel bad about it. What do I do?
Thank you.
Sally

[misty674]

My son is 7 years old and he started that a little over a year ago. He does it with both eyes. It almost looks like he's flirting. He sees a psychologist due to his mental challenges. I asked both Dr.'s and they said it was tics due to tourettes syndrome. They told me usually people with mental disabilities get it. I don't know if this helped but I thought I would let ya know. There is medication for this however, I'm not putting my son on it until it gets worse or he starts getting teased. They also told me it might go away for a couple months, then arise again. My son stopped for about a month, then started doing it again. It doesn't hurt them nor do they know their doing it unless you tell them. I've noticed the tics get worse when he gets nervous and/or stressed!!

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

You should arrange an appointment with his doctor, who will likely refer him to a neurologist. Most tics in children and adolescents are benign, but you should not assume that. He requires evaluation.