How a good laugh could help ease the irritation of dry eyes

Laughter has long been touted as the best medicine, and now a recent study gives this old adage even more weight, finding that laughter therapy may be just as effective as drops for treating dry eyes.

Dry eye disease (DED) is estimated to affect around 360 million individuals worldwide. Common symptoms include uncomfortable, red, scratchy or irritated eyes.

While the effects of laughter therapy have been trialled for a number of conditions, international researchers were curious as to whether it could help patients with dry eye disease.

To explore whether a good chuckle could help ease the discomfort of DED, researchers from China, the US, and Queen’s University Belfast conducted a study involving 283 participants aged 18-45 with DED. The participants were divided into two groups: one assigned to laughter exercises and the other to a regimen of 0.1% sodium hyaluronic acid eye drops, applied four times daily for eight weeks.

Those in the laughter group followed an instructional video, repeating phrases such as “Hee hee hee, hah hah hah, cheese cheese cheese, cheek cheek cheek, hah hah hah hah hah hah” 30 times per five-minute session. A face recognition app was used to standardise facial movements and track the exercise.

Meanwhile, the control group applied the eye drops to both eyes four times a day for eight weeks, using the same app to monitor application frequency.

At the study’s conclusion, researchers observed significant decreases in ocular surface disease index scores in both groups. Additionally, the laughter group saw marked improvements in tear breakup time (the duration before the first dry spot appeared on the cornea after blinking), meibomian gland function (which helps prevent tear evaporation), and mental health. No adverse effects were reported in either group.

While the authors noted some limitations that could have impacted the results, they concluded that laughter exercises were no less effective than 0.1% sodium hyaluronic acid in treating the symptoms and clinical signs of dry eye disease.

“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,” study authors noted..

Co-investigator and co-author of the study, Professor Nathan Congdon, Ulverscroft Chair of Global Eye Health at Queen’s University Belfast added that “laughter offers a terrific treatment for dry eye, especially in areas of more limited resources, where drops are expensive and may be inaccessible”.

“Further research will only expand the range of physical and mental health conditions for which ‘laughter is the best medicine,” Condon said.

-with PA.