Crocodile tear phenomenon

The crocodile tears phenomenon ( synonym : gustolakrimales phenomenon , phenomenon of paroxysmal tears , gustolakrimaler reflex , gustatory wines or Bogoradsyndrom ) is a human disease syndrome in which a unilateral tearing occurs usually during eating. The reference to crocodile tears results from the fact that it can be observed in crocodiles that they also show tear secretion when they eat. Affected people can suffer greatly from involuntary tear secretion when eating. The crocodile tear phenomenon is one of the irritation syndromes .

As a so-called residual symptomatology , this symptom typically occurs after a facial paralysis defect has healed . However, this disease can also occur after leprosy , surgical treatment of an acoustic neuroma or osteodystrophia deformans . Tears are secreted by the fact that regenerating parasympathetic taste fibers (gustatory fibers) of the nervus intermedius (more precisely the chorda tympani as one of its branches ) grow into the lacrimal gland ( glandula lacrimalis ) and thus incorrectly nerve it . This phenomenon also occurs in the neuropediatric Marcus Gunn phenomenon .

Therapeutically , there have been reports of success with the use of Botox injections.

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