As the name suggests, the oculomotor nerve supplies the majority of the muscles controlling eye movements. Therefore, damage to this nerve will result in the affected individual being unable to move his or her eye normally. In addition, the nerve also supplies the upper eyelid muscle and the muscles responsible for pupil constriction. The patient with this type of paralysis will usually develop strabismus and double vision.

This disorder is associated with dysfunction of the sixth cranial nerve, which is responsible for contracting the lateral rectus muscle to abduct the eye. The inability of an eye to turn outward results in a convergent strabismus or esotropia of which the primary symptom is double vision or diplopia in which the two images appear side by side. This is the most common type of eye paralysis.