Laughter Therapy: A New Solution for Dry Eye Disease Relief

Discover how laughter exercises may be as effective as eye drops in treating dry eye disease. A new clinical trial reveals surprising results.

Laughter may be as effective as eye drops in improving symptoms of dry eye disease (DED). According to a clinical trial from China published by The BMJ, this condition affects approximately 360 million people worldwide and is characterized by discomfort, redness, and irritation in the eyes ().

The researchers suggest that laughter exercises could be used as an initial treatment for relieving DED symptoms. While laughter therapy is known to alleviate issues like depression, anxiety, stress, and chronic pain, and is recognized as a useful addition to treatments for various chronic conditions, its effectiveness for dry eye disease has not been previously studied.

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Laughter Exercise Improves Dry Eye Symptoms and Tear Function

To explore this further, researchers from China and the UK set out to assess the effectiveness and safety of laughter exercise in patients with symptoms of dry eye disease.

Their findings are based on 283 participants aged 18-45 years (average age 29; 74% female) who were assessed for dry eye disease using the ocular surface disease index (OSDI) score and randomly assigned to receive laughter exercise or 0.1% sodium hyaluronic acid eye drops four times a day for eight weeks.

Participants with existing eye conditions, injury, infection, or allergy, and those who had recently used contact lenses or any dry eye disease treatment were excluded.

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Laughter as a Home Treatment for Dry Eyes Compared to Eye Drops

The laughter exercise group watched an instructional video and were asked to vocalize and repeat the phrases “Hee hee hee, hah hah hah, cheese cheese cheese, cheek cheek cheek, hah hah hah hah hah hah” 30 times per five-minute session using a face recognition mobile app to standardize the exercise and enhance facial movements.

The eye drop (control) group applied 0.1% sodium hyaluronic acid eye drops to both eyes four times a day for eight weeks, tracking their usage frequency via the same app.

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Both treatments were stopped at eight weeks and any change in eye surface discomfort scores was measured at weeks 10 and 12.

The average OSDI score at eight weeks was 10.5 points lower (indicating less discomfort) in the laughter exercise group and 8.83 lower in the control group, with a mean difference of −1.45 points, suggesting that laughter exercise was no less effective than eye drops.

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Laughter exercise also showed significant improvements in non-invasive tear break-up time (time taken for the first dry spot to appear on the cornea after a blink), meibomian gland function (oil glands that help prevent tears from evaporating too quickly), and mental health scores. No adverse events were noted in either study group.

The authors acknowledge some limitations that may have influenced the results but say the findings suggest that laughter exercise was non-inferior to 0.1% sodium hyaluronic acid in improving dry eye disease symptoms and clinical signs.

“As a safe, environmentally friendly, and low-cost intervention, laughter exercise could serve as a first-line, home-based treatment for people with symptomatic dry eye disease and limited corneal staining,” they add.

Reference:

Effect of laughter exercise versus 0.1% sodium hyaluronic acid on ocular surface discomfort in dry eye disease: non-inferiority randomised controlled trial - (https://www.bmj.com/content/386/bmj-2024-080474)

Source-Eurekalert