Can laughter really be as effective as eye drops for Dry Eye?
At Eden Eyecare, we make it our mission to always be at the forefront of the latest technological advances in Dry Eye treatments, and recent research published in the British Medical Journal suggests that laughter can help ease the symptoms of dry eye, and in fact do so as well as eye drops. We asked our resident dry eye specialist, Iain Macnish, to explain the results.
The study essentially compared laughter with standard dry eye drops. 299 participants aged between 18 and 45, with symptomatic dry eye disease were randomly assigned into two groups: one group used artificial tears (eye drops) four times daily for eight weeks, while the other group completed laughter exercise sessions four times daily over the same period. After the eight weeks, it was concluded that both groups improved their dry eye disease symptoms and clinical signs.
Mr Macnish helps us to understand why:
“The reason why the study concluded that laughter helps in dry eye is that when we laugh two things occur; first, our respiratory muscles (chest muscles) send a signal to the tear producing lacrimal gland, situated in the brain to increase tear production, i.e. crying, therefore increasing the moisture in the eye. The second reason is that laughter causes the muscles around our eye called obicularis oculi to contract, which in turn cause the meibomian glands in our eyelids to contract, thus producing the oil which goes over the tears which we need to keep the tears on the eye.”
Tears keep your eyes lubricated and help focus light so you can see clearly. They also protect your eyes from dust, debris and bacteria. Dry eye disease is when you are not making enough tears or your tears drying up quickly, so increasing tear production, as laughter does, can only be a good thing. But before you switch on the comedy channel, the reality is that it is not practical to laugh 30 times in 5 minutes, 4 times daily. Eden Eyecare take a deeper approach, with Mr Macnish pointing out that both eye drops and laughter only really deal with the everyday symptoms of Dry Eye, rather than looking at the overall cause of the problem.
“As a Dry Eye specialist, the main issue that I see with the use of treatments such as eye drops and wipes, is that they don’t actually treat the underlying cause of the most common dry eye condition; meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD) due to Blepharitis. At Eden Eyecare, we look to treat the root cause of your symptoms to give real and lasting relief without the need for everyday treatment.”
If you have any concerns with your eye health, or think you may be suffering from Dry Eyes, try our symptom checker here:
Been on drops as long as you can remember? Book a specialist dry eye consultation and we’ll get to the root cause of your issue and suggest a treatment plan that can work for you. We welcome patients and customers from all over the UK, and are easily accessible from Manchester, Carlisle, Newcastle, Liverpool, Glasgow and more, so if you’re looking for exceptional eye care, we’re here to help.
