"Your eyelid's drooping."
That may be something you hear in your middle-age-years from time to time. The one-sided or double drooping often tends to go away after rest, and then it's all too easy to let any concern about this "go to rest," too. But my advice is, don't ignore it. An onset of "ptosis," or a "drooping eyelid," is not normal and can be the first sign of a developing tumor or neurolgical condition, and other symptoms for these conditions may not arrive until years later. Here's what to do-- if you notice or someone tells you your eyelid or eyelids are drooping - take a picture of it, as it often occurs upon fatigue and may not be present when you arrive in your physician's office. (Cell phones have been a great help to medicine!) Try to relax and keep looking straight ahead in the same direction, and take pictures from several angles, some at eye level and some a few inches above and below eye level until you're able to catch a good representative photo of the drooping on film. (as in- you can tell one eyelid is hanging lower than the other eyelid, or that both eyelids are drooping lower than normal.) Email it to yourself with the subject line "droopy eye(s)" so you can find it later and show it to your physician, and then make an appointment with your physician to talk about it. A droopy eyelid from a neurological condition tends to occur when a patient is fatigued, but also tends to go away after rest, so it can be easy to ignore, but don't ignore it. Be sure to talk about this with your caregiver as a possible first sign of a tumor or neurological condition. Hopefully it will be neither, and something more like age-related ptosis, but if it isn't, you may be able to begin treatment years earlier for one of the more serious causes if you don't ignore this.
