United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

I just wanted to say until I read all these boards and the talk about Horners Syndrome, I had no clue what it was. My son has been injured for almost 10 years and definitely has Horners Syndrome, but it was never mentioned. When he got hurt he busted his eye socket on his left side and had to have 3 plates to put his eye socket back together so we always just assumed the droopy eye was due to that injury. They sure don't explain this injury very well. Also when he flies his eye feels like it is going to pop out it hurts so bad and waters. To anyones knowledge does this have anything to do with the Horners Syndrome.

While I am on the subject Dr. Kline did tell him that sweating profusely while he ate was due to the nerve damage, but have never heard anyone here mention it. Is this part of the Horners Syndrome or if it is due to his particular injury.

I hate to sound stupid, but if I don't ask I'll never know and apparently drs. don't offer the info.

Hi Pamela, here's an article about Horners http://www.jeghers.com/annts/horner.htm it was written a long time ago but it's the easiest to understand I've found. Note when the author refers to D1 D2 they mean T1 T2, maybe they used to call them something different, I don't know!
Horner's is more usually associated with lack of sweating, so maybe the excessive sweating is due to something else in the nerve injury. I have flown long haul quite often with no ill effects so don't know if your son's side effects are due to the Horner's or maybe the additional trauma he suffered to the socket. Horners can occur as the only effect on a baby who has birth trauma or as the only symptom after any neck trauma (surgical, radiation treatment). It's supposed to be irreversible but mine is definitely better than it was, the pupil is still smaller but not as markedly so. It took at least 15 years for the improvement to show up. Some sites say it doesn't affect the vision but I find it does, my eyesight is worse on that side and my night vision is quite seriously affected as the pupil doesn't dilate at all, I try and avoid driving at night at all and I can NEVER get my key in the ingnition at night (I drive a RH drive car so the ignition is on the same side as my bpi). Talking to others we all seem slightly differently affected. Funny you say the doctors never mentioned it, it was the first sign to the ER staff that I had a bpi, they told my parents it was something they ALWAYS check for in accident victims, especially bikers.

Yeah I have to agree with Jen; the Horners sign is something they use as a positive indication of nerve damage to the brachial plexus over here.

I too have never had a problem with my eye when flying, unless you count trying to keep them both open on a long boring flight...my eye, after 10 years since the accident, looks almost identical to the other; it takes someone who is knowledgable in these injries to detect the slight difference. My eyesight was never really affected either, and one small bonus; my face on the affected side seems to have less wrinkles!

Your sons symptoms may well be attributable to the additional problems he had with his eye socket, and the plates they put in. I have to admit that I don't have the first clue why your son sweats profusely when he eats...I have never heard of it. Maybe someone out there has?

After reading the link to the Horners Syndrome I agree his problem might very well be due to the eye injury itself. They wouldn't have been able to detect it right away as the eye was the size of a softball the night of the accident and then was operated on a couple of days later, but seems they should have mentioned it sometime if it was Horners Syndrome. I can't find his medical report right now but if my memory is correct his avulsions were C5-C8 and T1 was stretched very badly so it is probably not Horners. Dr. Kline said the sweating had something to do with the nerve damage and nobody here has mentioned having that problem so I was curious.

is there anything that can be done about Horners Syndrome? I feel as though mine has gotten worse in the past few years. It's very evident in pictures. I was considering the plastic surgery route to lift the lid a bit so I don't have to throw away all my pictures.