Oculomotor nerve palsy

Oculomotor nerve palsy or oculomotor neuropathy is an eye condition resulting from damage to the third cranial nerve or a branch thereof. As the name suggests, the oculomotor nerve supplies the majority of the muscles controlling eye movements (four of the six extraocular muscles, excluding only the lateral rectus and superior oblique). Damage to this nerve will result in an inability to move the eye normally. The nerve also supplies the upper eyelid muscle (levator palpebrae superioris) and is accompanied by parasympathetic fibers innervating the muscles responsible for pupil constriction (sphincter pupillae). The limitations of eye movement resulting from the condition are generally so severe that patients are often unable to maintain normal eye alignment when gazing straight ahead, leading to strabismus and, as a consequence, double vision (diplopia).