Abstract:Periorbital pain is a common concomitant symptom of dry eye disease, which is transmitted through the ophthalmic branch of the trigeminal nerve and mainly manifests as burning, distending, and stinging sensations, severely impairing patients' quality of life. Western medicine and traditional Chinese medicine have unique advantages in managing dry eye-related periorbital pain. Western medicine can rapidly relieve targeted symptoms, while traditional Chinese medicine adopts holistic syndrome differentiation to lower long-term recurrence risk. Western therapeutic modalities include pharmacotherapy and physical interventional therapies, and Chinese medicine interventions cover oral herbal formulas, topical herbal preparations, acupuncture and Tuina massage. This paper systematically reviews advances over the past five years regarding the pathogenesis of dry eye-associated periorbital pain and integrated traditional Chinese and western therapeutic schemes. The limitations of current clinical studies are summarized, aiming to offer standardized clinical references and innovative insights for the diagnosis and management of dry eye-induced periorbital pain.
