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• The chief doctor
  of the Department of Neurology,
  Saiseikai Central Hospital

Hemifacial spasm is a disease causing the muscles on half of the face to twitch despite one's will.

Twitches generally occur in the muscles around one eye first, and then gradually spread to the cheek muscles or around the mouth.

When the extent of the twitches increase, the face might distort due to the stiffness or the facial muscles on the side of the face that twitches might become paralyzed.

In initial stages, the twitches occur occasionally, such as when one feels nervous. Gradually, the twitches continue for a longer period and come to occur daily.

Usually, only one side of the face twitches, but in very rare cases they can appear on both sides of the face.

A cause has not yet been determined, but studies have found that a nerve (the facial nerve) that controls the facial muscles touches and presses the blood vessels in a deep part of the brain.

Many people suffer from hemifacial spasm, among which middle-aged women are more likely to develop the disease.

• Twitches occurring around one eye

In the spring of 1997, Mio Takaki found that the right side of her face, which is an important asset to an actress, was twitching. Although noticing that something was wrong, she continued to focus her energy on playing her part, not wanting to trouble the director and staff.

"Later, I found it was a disease that requires life-or-death surgery. But I couldn't detect it early."

The frequency of the sudden facial twitches increased day by day. When her face started twitching, her brain reacted to it as if it was swaying. She couldn't sleep well, and finally she was worn out both physically and mentally…

Mio Takaki was born in Fukuoka Prefecture in 1959. In 1981, she made her debut as an actress in a movie "Morning moon wa sozatsuni (Morning moon coarsen)".
The following year, her song, "Dance wa umaku odorenai (I cannot dance well alone)", became a big hit selling 800 thousand copies of the record. She also appeared on TV dramas, such as "Stewardess monogatari (Stewardess Story)" and "Ultraman Tiga".