Why do my eyelids twitch when I'm tired? DR ROSEMARY answers your health questions

A: THE medical term for this is blepharospasm which occurs when the muscles around the eye repeatedly contract and you have no control over this.

It's more common in women and happens more with increasing age, often appearing for the first time in your 50s or 60s.

In most, the reason it occurs isn't known but occasionally it can run in families. Tiredness can be a common trigger, along with bright lights. Sometimes simple measures, such as pulling at your eyelid, yawning or even humming can be helpful.

Botox injections into the affected muscle can stop the twitching and this treatment is now available on the NHS.

Q: I RECENTLY discovered that one of my legs is longer than the other - just less than 1.5cm difference - which is causing me knee pain. Is there anything that can be done about this?

A: VERY few of us are perfectly symmetrical. It's common to have one foot slightly larger than the other and it's probable that everyone has one leg slightly longer than the other one.

This means that having one leg around 1cm longer is regarded medically as being normal.

Most people have never had their leg lengths measured accurately but I'm aware that the left leg of my trousers always seems slightly shorter than the right.

Once a disparity is discovered, it can be easy to use it as a reason for aches and pains, particularly back, hip and knee problems, but in reality a difference of around 1cm is unlikely to be the basic underlying cause, although it could make an existing problem more troublesome.

Special orthotic insoles which you can insert into your shoes to lift your shorter leg can help.

Also a physiotherapist should be able to give you exercises to strengthen muscles around your knees and back exercises to help correct any lopsidedness in the way you walk.

Q: IS it possible to unclog your arteries?

A: UNFORTUNATELY, once your arteries are narrowed by fatty deposits, it is very difficult to widen them again. Unlike water pipes that can be descaled, it's just not possible to remove fatty deposits from blood vessels as this would involve damaging the vessel wall.

Inserting tiny metal stents can help keep blood flowing where a small portion of an important artery is dangerously narrowed, for example, in the coronary arteries that supply the heart or in one of the main blood vessels supplying the legs.

But when a longer section of an artery is narrowed, the only way of improving the blood supply is with a bypass operation.

Once arteries are narrowed, the best approach is to prevent the problem getting any worse. This means not smoking, keeping blood pressure to a normal level, keeping blood cholesterol levels down (which nearly always means taking statins), eating a very healthy diet, taking regular exercise, and losing any excess weight.

For people who have diabetes, controlling blood sugar levels is important too.