We all could use a good cry. Sometimes it’s good to feel the wetness of tears down our faces – whether it’s joy, pain, anguish, or just a good Hallmark movie that causes crying, feeling that emotion is good for a person’s emotional development and growth.
While we all can get emotional and cry, there is a good percentage of people that actually have difficulty producing the salt-water tears to trace lines down their cheeks. This is a condition called “dry eye, ” which is a condition where the lachrymal gland does not produce a sufficient amount of tears to keep the eyes moist regularly.
There are several treatments available for various stages of dry eye, but most of them are considered pharmaceutic. But of course, like with most pharmaceutics, there are side effects that can be greater than the dry eye problem itself.
However, a recent crossover study involving a nerve-stimulation device has shown some promising results in improving tear production and relieving dry eye symptoms in patients. The device is called a neurostimulator, and the study showed that it was effective when used inside the nasal passages, in some reports improving tear production at least two-fold, in some cases three-fold.
The crossover study covered 48 patients who were split into three groups – one which had a neurostimulator inside the nose, one group had it applied on the outside f the nose, and there was a group which used a placebo device. Those with the neurostimulator inside the nose had nearly three times the tear production of either the placebo or the external application of the neurostimulator.
In addition, a separate long-term project seemed to show effectiveness in the neurostimulator improving tear production. In this example, nearly 100 patients were treated with neurostimulators for six months, and tear production was measured after the neurostimulator was no longer used, and tea production was nearly double the rate as before the device was applied.
Dry eye can be a huge nuisance, and it can affect the health of our eyes and affect our vision when we are not able to keep our eyes moist. Pharmaceuticals have their own effects, but there has been progress and advancements that can help reduce the dependence on medicine and thus present a more natural and safer remedy for natural shortcomings.
There is no reason to have a dry eye in the house. We all could use a good cry and feel tears down our cheeks.