What are DOLL EYES?

http://www.mcqs.com/mrcp1/modules.ph...=article&sid=8

found this....it is a gaze d/o.....eyes move like that of a doll when you move the head...conjugated, fixed.

Saw this in nursing school and it is freaky, the eyes stay put no matter how you move the head. The pt I saw it in had a head injury....had been a pedestrian in a hit and run. Thats all I remember though, I think that it is a very very bad sign, one that means the head injury can not be treated but am really not sure. The only reason I remember it at all is because it is so weird looking, definately something you will recognize again after you see it once.

These are reflexive movements of the eyes in the opposite direction the head is being moved. Deals with problems with brain stem function. When you see Doll's eye negative, the eyes are fixed.That's the brain stem problem.... Doll's eye present is a normal response and that's when the eyes move in the opposite direction.

http://duke.usask.ca/~misra/virology...finitions.html

Doll's eyes - a maneuver designed to determine if the eye movement control centers in the brainstem are working. If you take a comatose patient and gently roll the head side to side, it is a good sign if the eyes move opposite to the head (like a baby doll). That means the vestibular system is working and a reflex eye movement is working. However, if the eyes just stay fixed with respect to the head, that isn't such a good sign. Again, that is a test to assess the function of brainstem.

Hope this helps!!

Doll's eye reflex is more correctly called the oculocephalic reflex. It is where rotation/flexion of the of the head cause transient eye movement in the opposite direction (Lindsay, Bone and Callander 1997 Neurology and Neurosurgery Illustratedp 30)


Doll's eye reflex is only seen on unconscious patients and it only shows brain stem functioning so depending on the patient it can be a good sign - not good when it is the only sign still intact.

Just make sure they've been cleared for C-spine injuries before testing for Doll's Eyes!