[Failure of voluntary eyelid closure, motor impersistence and hemispheric functional specialization. A report on 3...

The impossibility of voluntary closing of the eyelids is usually reported in the published literature as being associated with bilateral cerebral lesions. In the three cases reported by the authors, this rare symptom was caused by unilateral lesions of the right hemisphere. The inability to close the eyelids voluntarily is, with these types of lesion, a transient sign which is rapidly replaced by difficulty in maintaining the consign. The physiopathology of motor impersistence (neglect of instructions), and of absence of voluntarily closing of the eyelids may be connected. Two associated mechanisms are discussed : preferential activation of the left hemisphere during a verbal consign and a fault in interhemispheric inhibition.