How do I stop my nose and lip from twitching?

October 31, 2006 2:47 PM

Why have I developed a lip/nose twitch?

In the last few months, I have developed some sort of twitch or compulsion that causes my nose and upper lip to twitch, much like when you're about to sneeze or you have an allergy.

It's not a twitch so much...it's not rapid. I just keep flexing, for lack of a better word, my nose and upper lip, as though there's a bee on it and I'm trying to shoo it off without using my hands. So much so that the muscles that do this can actually get tired.

It seems like this began when I got a new pair of sunglasses. They're a little large, and they touch my face in places previous glasses did not. I caught myself moving my nose while wearing them, but now I still do it when not wearing the glasses.

It's not involuntary...if I think about it, I don't do it. But if I don't think about it, the lip sneers and the nose flairs.

How can I put this to an end?

posted by Bud Dickman to health & fitness (9 comments total)

That's a tic. A neurologist can help you with it, if it's bothering you a lot.

If it's bothering you only a little, it might not be worth the trouble.
posted by ikkyu2 at 2:58 PM on October 31, 2006

Have you been under more stress than before this started?
posted by allelopath at 2:59 PM on October 31, 2006

I get these sort of facial tics (right at the corner of my left eye) when I'm stressed out or haven't been sleeping enough.
posted by nathancaswell at 3:04 PM on October 31, 2006

Oh, upon re-reading your post, I think maybe you're talking about something else.... I used to do this when I wore glasses. As they slipped down my nose I would sort of shimmy them back up by making bunny rabbit faces. Eventually I did it subconsciously and I had to train myself to stop.
posted by nathancaswell at 3:06 PM on October 31, 2006

Suppress the behaviour when you realize you're doing it, and it'll go away eventually. It's just like any other bad habit, be it biting your nails or staring at cleavage.
posted by randomstriker at 5:06 PM on October 31, 2006

Sheesh, does ANYBODY use The Google anymore? Here's the first hit on a search for "facial tic": http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001410.htm

Too lazy to search?
posted by catkins at 7:38 AM on November 1, 2006

Whoa, catkins. Hold your snarky horses. I doubt this person realized he was describing a tic - the word doesn't appear in his question, you'll notice.

Most people I diagnose with tics in my neurology clinic don't know what a tic is.
posted by ikkyu2 at 7:52 AM on November 1, 2006

I maintain that the OPs new sunglasses are too big and keep slipping down his nose, so he started shimmying them up and now can't stop.
posted by nathancaswell at 12:26 PM on November 1, 2006

I developed the same tic after getting my septum pierced. I subsiquently removed the piercing, but the tic remained. I have been able to all but stop it over the last few years simply by trying to realize when I am doing it, and making a conscious effort to stop. I still twitch like crazy when I'm drunk though :-)
posted by TheCoug at 3:35 AM on November 3, 2006