Final answer:
In a patient with right CN6 palsy, when asked to look to the right, the right eye fails to abduct while the left eye moves normally. This leads to the absence of conjugate horizontal eye movement on the right side, potentially causing double vision due to the misalignment of the eyes.
Step-by-step explanation:
When assessing a patient with a right CN6 palsy, and they are asked to look to the right, you would observe that the patient's right eye fails to move outward (abduct). Cranial Nerve 6 (CN6), also known as the abducens nerve, controls the lateral rectus muscle, which is responsible for abduction of the eye. A palsy of this nerve means that the muscle cannot contract properly, leading to an inability to move the eye laterally. Consequently, when the patient attempts to look right, only the left eye moves outward correctly while the right eye remains in a neutral position or moves minimally. This can result in diplopia, or double vision, since the eyes are not aligned and are focusing on two different points in space.
In situations where the right CN6 palsy is present, one would expect to see the left eye abducting normally while the right eye does not, causing the absence of conjugate horizontal eye movements when the patient is looking to the right. Damage to the sixth cranial nerve can arise from a variety of causes including trauma, increased intracranial pressure, or microvascular disease, especially in the context of diabetes or hypertension.