Gender differences in benign essential blepharospasm

Purpose: Detection of differences in disease characteristics between male and female patients with benign essential blepharospasm (BEB). Methods: We retrospectively reviewed charts of 32 male and 61 female BEB patients, comparing the time interval between treatments with botulinum toxin A. We prospectively compared BEB-related questionnaire results between 36 female and 15 male patients. Results: The mean interval between treatment in weeks was 16.69 for men and 17.31 for women (p = 0.19). The questionnaire results showed a higher degree of symptom severity and frequency in women over men. (p = 0.008), but similar responses for disease-related handicap in daily activities. Conclusions: Aside from greater symptom severity and frequency among women, we found no significant differences between male and female patients with BEB.