Can Acupuncture Ease Pain and Improve Mood for Patients With Dry Eye Disease?

A non-randomized pilot found that patients with dry eye disease (DED) who underwent acupuncture experienced reductions in ocular pain and discomfort and improved psychological symptoms and several ocular surface parameters compared with a control treatment of 0.3% sodium hyaluronate (SH).

Ocular pain related to DED can impact mental health and quality of life, but limited treatment options are currently available. The researchers aimed to examine the potential benefits of acupuncture for improving ocular pain, mental state, and dry eye parameters in patients with DED.

A total of 48 patients with DED were allocated to either an acupuncture group (n = 27) or an SH group (n = 21). Participants in the acupuncture group received treatment at six bilateral acupuncture points three times per week for 4 weeks, while the SH group administered 0.3% SH four times daily over the same period. Researchers assessed ocular pain using the numerical rating scale (NRS), and mental state was evaluated through the self-rating anxiety scale (SAS) and self-rating depression scale (SDS). Ocular surface parameters, levels of inflammatory cytokines, and corneal nerve morphology were also measured at baseline, 1 week, and 4 weeks. Although non-randomized, outcome assessors and statistical analysts were blinded to treatment allocation.

The researchers observed that both groups experienced improvements in NRS and ocular surface discomfort index (OSDI) scores at both 1 and 4 weeks (all P < .05). However, at the 4-week mark, the acupuncture group demonstrated better outcomes than the SH group in several areas. Specifically, patients in the acupuncture group showed increased tear break-up time (TBUT) and corneal perception, reduced SAS and SDS scores, and lowered tear concentrations of inflammatory markers including interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α (all P < .05), while the SH group exhibited no changes in these parameters (all P > .05).

Limitations of this study include its non-randomized design and small sample size. Future research using larger, randomized controlled trials is necessary to verify these effects and further investigate the underlying mechanisms.

“Acupuncture treatment could improve ocular surface characteristics in patients with DED, and more importantly, it alleviates their ocular pain and depressive state,” the study authors concluded. “The anti-inflammatory effect of acupuncture may be involved in this process.”

Reference

Duan H, Zhou Y, Ma B, et al. Effect of acupuncture treatment on the ocular pain, mental state and ocular surface characteristics of patients with dry eye disease. Clin Ophthalmol. 2024:18:2751-2764. doi:10.2147/OPTH.S476573.