Cannabis-Infused Eye Drops May Treat Rare Form Of Dystonia
By Johnny Green
It is always a very irritating feeling when a person gets something caught between their eyeball and their eyelid, especially when they can’t seem to get it out. The same is true when a person’s eyelid twitches due to them being tired, stressed, or having too much caffeine. In a vast majority of those cases, the discomfort and irritation goes away fairly quickly.
Unfortunately, some people have to deal with those situations on a frequent basis. It is a rare, bilateral condition known as benign essential blepharospasm. It is unknown what causes the condition, which involves muscles around the eyes and eyelids spasming uncontrollably.
A team of researchers in Israel recently conducted a clinical trial using cannabis-infused eye drops to see if the cannabis delivery method could effectively treat benign essential blepharospasm. Below is more information about it via a news release from NORML:
Tel Aviv, Israel: The administration of cannabis-infused eye drops reduces spasms in patients diagnosed with the progressive neurological disorder benign essential blepharospasm (BEB), according to placebo-controlled data published in the journal Graefe’s Archive for Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology. BEB is a rare type of dystonia that is characterized by the abnormal blinking or spasming of the eyelids.
A team of Israeli researchers compared cannabis-infused eye drops versus placebo in patients with BEB over a period of several weeks. Cannabis treatments were associated with significant reductions in the both the frequency and duration of patients’ spasms.
Authors concluded, “Medical cannabis can be an effective and safe treatment for BEB as a second line after BTX-A injections when used for three months. No significant ocular or systemic side effects was associated with the treatment.”
Full text of the study, “Medical cannabis oil for benign essential blepharospasm: A prospective, randomized controlled pilot study,” appears in Graefe’s Archive for Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology. Additional information on cannabis and dystonia is available from NORML.
