Summary: | Myasthenia gravis is an autoimmune disorder characterized by muscle weakness, as a result of neuromuscular transmission impairment; the fluctuating muscle weakness generally occurs in voluntary skeletal muscles, and varies in severity between patients. The prevalence is estimated to be 77.7 per million persons according to a meta-analysis of epidemiologic studies published between 1950 and 2017 worldwide. This makes myasthenia gravis the most common neuromuscular transmission disorder. Ocular myasthenia gravis occurs when the extrinsic ocular muscles are involved. Ocular muscle weakness can cause symptoms such as ptosis (dropping of the upper eyelid) or binocular diplopia (double vision). Ocular symptoms are common in those with myasthenia gravis. Some patients with myasthenia gravis have only ocular symptoms. However, for more than 80% of the those with ocular symptoms only at the onset of myasthenia gravis, weakness spreads to other muscle groups at some point. One retrospective cohort study has indicated that early intervention for ocular myasthenia gravis was associated with the decrease in the frequencies of ocular symptoms and the delay or potential prevention of the occurrence of generalized myasthenia gravis
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