Jaw winking
Marin Amat sign is another condition in which the eye closes with mouth movements. It is a type of facial synkinesia due to facial nerve aberrant innervation causing eye closure with smiling or mouth opening. It occurs most often following Bell’s palsy with poor recovery and a profusion of misdirected axons from lower facial muscles to the orbicularis oculi. For an example see facial synkinesis at www.neurosigns.org.
A number of videos have been posted on the Internet of jaw-winking; here is an especially dramatic example
- for R. Marcus Gunn, Scottish ophthalmologist
Video courtesy of Dr. Stephen Reich, University of Maryland
References
References
1. Campbell WW. DeJong's the neurologic examination, 7th ed. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2013.
2. Carman, KB, Ozkan, S, Yakut, A, et al. Marcus Gunn jaw winking synkinesis: report of two cases. BMJ Case Rep. 2013 Jan 23; 2013.
3. Pearce FC, McNab AA, Hardy TG. Marcus Gunn Jaw-Winking Syndrome: A Comprehensive Review and Report of Four Novel Cases. Ophthal Plast Reconstr Surg. 2016 Sep 7. [Epub ahead of print]
4. Falcão I, Almeida F. Marcus Gunn Phenomenon. J Pediatr. 2017;188:302