Re: Only Half Of The Face Goes Red

Posted By Janet Frampton on June 17, 1999 at 09:17:50
My eight year old son was born with a drooping eyelid.  When he was one week old, we were sent to an optomitrist and were told he had Horner's Syndrome.  That Dr. did all of the testing of the pupils in the dark, etc. We were then sent for an MRI or CAT Scan, can't exactly remember which,  to determine if there was a tumor setting on the nerves in his neck, luckily nothing showed up.  His eyes were slightly different in color and one of his pupils did not dialate the same as the other.  The Optomitrist said that if the drooping eyelid did not correct itself, he would do surgery to correct it before he started kindergarden, it did correct itself.  The eyes also both became brown, one just being a tad bit lighter in color.  The only lingering effect seemed to be the pupil that did not dialate the same, so nothing has been done or tested in eight years.  Well, about a month ago, my son came in from playing outside and half (only half) of his face was beet red.  It was the most bizzare thing, looked like someone had drawn a line straight down the middle of his face, going through his forehead, nose, lips, chin.  As first I thought maybe he had been hit with a rubber ball, but that was not the case.  This has continued to happen whenever he physically overheats.  He plays soccer and the kids on his team have started calling him "Two Face" the character from the Batman Comics.  After he cools off, his face goes back to normal, but I am very concerned.  I took him to our regular pediatrician this week and he said he thinks it is related to the Horner's Syndrome, and referred us to a Neurologist.  The first appointment we could get is in two months!  I asked the pediatrician if it could wait that long, and he said yes.  My concern is, if it is related to the Horner's, why has this not been happening for the last eight years, he has always been very physical and played hard?  Now the poor kid has to go through his summer soccer league with all of the kids calling him "Two Face" because half of his face goes beat red.  Any thoughts, suggestions, or ideas please.  Thank you.

[CCF neurology MD MM]

Posted By CCF neuro MD MM on June 17, 1999 at 11:47:13
Your son clearly has a congeital Horners syndrome which is characterised by a drooping eyelid on that side and poor dilatation of the pupil on that side also. Congenital Horners also causes the eye color to be different on each side, this differentiates it from the acquired type which can be caused by trauma tumors etc in later life.
Horners syndrome is due to a deficiency of nerve supply to one side of the face, the branch of the nervous system involved is the Sympathetic nervous system.
The sympathetic nervous system controls both eye reflexes and sweating so abnormalities of sweating are to be expected, as amatter of fact testing of different degrees of sweating on either side of the face is one of the old diagnostic tests for this condition. The phenomenon you mention therefore
to be expected and together with the different eye colors confirms the diagnosis of congenital Horners syndrome.











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Only Half Of The Face Goes Red JL 6/17/1999
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Re: Only Half Of The Face Goes Red CCF Neuro[P] MD, RPS 6/18/1999
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Only Half Of The Face Goes Red Janet Frampton 6/18/1999
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Re: Only Half Of The Face Goes Red CCF Neuro[P] MD, RPS 6/18/1999
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