Distribution of diabetic ocular nerve paralysis

ABSTRACT

To determine the distribution of oculomotor, abducens, and trochlear nerve palsies in diabetic patients with ocular nerve palsy. This study was performed on all diabetic patients who referred to ophthalmology and neurology clinics at Yazd Medical Science University because of ocular palsy from March 2004 to October 2005. Signs and symptoms of the disorder were evaluated. Palsies included oculomotor palsy in 51/2%, trochlear palsy in 24.4%, abducens palsy in 19.5%, and simultaneous palsies in 4.9%. The most common symptoms were diplopia [85.4%], abnormal head posture [63.4%], blurred or disturbed vision [9.8%] and other problems [12.2%]. The most common signs were exotropia [36.6%], hypertropia [24.4%], esotropia [19.5%] and mixed type deviations [19.5%]. The study revealed that more than half of diabetic ocular palsies are due to oculomotor palsy and the main symptom in these patients is diplopia