The presence of voluntary eyelid movement disorders was systematically checked in 51 patients with a recent stroke supposedly confined to one hemisphere and presenting with contralateral gaze impairment. Inability to initiate lid closure was found in 5 patients, inability to keep the eyes closed for more than 1-3 sec in 5 patients and inability to initiate eyelid opening in 1 patient. One patient failed both to close his eyes and to open them when closed. In 3 patients the deficit was restricted to the eye contralateral to the lesion. CT scan findings pointed to the parietal lobe as the cortical area more frequently encroached upon by the lesion. In one patient brain damage was restricted to the right motor supplementary area and cingulate gyrus and produced, in addition to failure to close eyelids, inability to carry out any voluntary movement governed by cranial nerves save eye movements.