Lagophthalmos in severe anorexia nervosa a case series

Anorexia nervosa is characterized in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fourth Edition) by (1) a refusal to maintain a minimally normal body weight (eg, a body weight of <85% of expected body weight or a body mass index [BMI; calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared] of <17.5), (2) an intense fear of gaining weight, (3) a disturbance in the evaluation of one's own body shape, and (4) amenorrhea.¹ Anorexia nervosa has the highest mortality of any psychiatric illness and has a lifetime estimated prevalence of 0.9% in women and 0.3% in men, with a standardized mortality ratio of 45 for patients whose lifetime nadir BMI is less than 10.5.^2,3 A subset of patients with anorexia nervosa develop such severe disease that they require medical hospitalization for stabilization before they are able to be admitted to traditional eating disorder programs. The ACUTE Center for Eating Disorders at Denver Health in Colorado is an inpatient unit with multidisciplinary expertise in caring for such critically ill patients.

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1. 'Lagophthalmos in severe anorexia nervosa: a case series. ' Gaudiani JL. Braverman J. Mascolo M. Mehler Philip S. Archives of Ophthalmology 2012; 130(7): 928-30. DOI: 10.1001/archophthalmol.2011.2515 | https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaophthalmology/fullarticle/1214817