REVIEW article
Front. Med.
Sec. Ophthalmology
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1600258
Dry eye disease and Psychosomatics -Benefits of Mind-Body Therapy for Dry eye disease
Provisionally accepted
Cong Zhao
Xiang Li*- Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China
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Dry eye disease (DED) is a chronic inflammatory condition with increasing prevalence.Current treatment strategies, including artificial tears and anti-inflammatory agents, often fail to fully relieve ocular discomfort or meet patients' broader clinical needs. Psychosomatic medicine is grounded in the biopsychosocial model of disease. Epidemiological studies suggest that DED is influenced by a range of physiological, psychological, and social factors.Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) may play a key role in the interplay between DED and mental health. Therefore, DED may be a psychosomatic disease, and its management should follow a multifaceted approach that considers both molecular-level mechanisms and broader psychosocial factors. The efficacy of mind-body therapies (MBT) in psychosomatic disorders has been widely recognized in recent years, yet there is still a wide scope for exploration in DED. This review explores the psychosomatic aspects of DED, highlights its subjective symptom burden , and discusses the potential benefits and mechanisms of MBT as an adjunctive therapy, offering new perspectives for its comprehensive management.
Keywords: Ocular surface, psychological stress, Inflammation, biopsychosocial model, Psychoneuroimmunology
Received: 26 Mar 2025; Accepted: 29 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhao and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Xiang Li, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China
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