Anisocoria is a disease in which the pupils are of different sizes.
Amisocoria is usually a condition that doesn’t impact overall eye health. This type is called physiological anisocoria and is a common condition. Anisocoria can also be a symptom of a serious eye disease, including nerve palsy and Horner’s syndrome. They are diseases of the nervous system that can occur when the nerves connected to the eye are damaged due to a stroke, tumor or trauma. Anisocoria can also occur after a viral infection, syphilis or surgical trauma.
The different sized pupils rarely cause any noticeable symptoms, and in reality the condition is often discovered when you compare old and new photographs and notice a difference in your appearance.
If anisocoria is a symptom of another disease, however, other symptoms will also be present, such as:
- Ptosis
- Reduced eye movement
- Pain in the eyes
- Fever
- Headache
- Decreased sweating
Your doctor will examine your pupils in a bright room and in a dark room to analyze how they react to light. This lets the ophthalmologist see which pupil reacts atypically. If the differences in pupil size is larger in the dark, the smaller of the two pupils is abnormal. Many cases of anisocoria are physiological – just a result of normal differences in people’s eyes and are not connected to health issues.
If you have other symptoms and anisocoria, your eye doctor will also perform other appropriate tests. Two types of eye disease in which anisocoria is a frequent symptom are palsy of the third nerve, skull nerve and Horner’s syndrome. They are disturbances of the nervous system which can be caused when the nerves connected to the eye are damaged due to a stroke, tumor or trauma. Other reasons include:
- Viral infections
- Syphilis
- Surgical mistakes