Videographic analysis of blink dynamics in patients with chronic progressive external ophthalmoplegia, myogenic ptosis, and facial nerve palsy using smartphone camera: A comparative analysis

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Congenital myogenic ptosis (CMP), chronic progressive external ophthalmoplegia (CPEO), and facial nerve palsy (FNP) are among the disorders which can seriously affect the blink dynamics of patients. Smartphone videography is a simple, convenient, and inexpensive way to capture eyelid movement. This study has measured and compared a variety of blink dynamics in these patients compared to healthy controls using 2‐dimensional smartphone videography to enhance the utility of this method in both clinical and research settings. METHODS: A total of 30 adult participants with a complaint of impaired eyelid movements including 10 with CMP, 10 with CPEO, and 10 with unilateral FNP, as well as 10 healthy controls were recruited. Using a smartphone camera with a resolution of 240 frames per second in 720 p, various blink dynamics were measured. RESULTS: All case groups had significantly lower values of peak and average closing velocities, average opening velocity, and palpebral aperture and significantly higher values of eyelid closing duration, compared to controls. FNP participants also had significantly lower values in the full blink rate and peak opening velocity (POV) measures, and CPEO patients showed significantly lower values in the POV. Other measures were not statistically significantly different compared to healthy controls. CONCLUSION: Our results indicated that all patients with CMP, FNP, and CPEO had different blinking dynamics compared to healthy controls, which is consistent with previous studies. Smartphone videography has achieved sufficient resolution and frame‐rate to provide valuable information and anatomic details for clinical and research purposes. Further studies could utilize smartphone videography for further investigation and confirmation of the methodology in various conditions.