There's a common misconception about which eye sheds tears first when someone is sad. However, the truth is that there is no difference between the tears produced from one eye versus the other. The idea that the first tear from the right eye signifies happiness and the left eye signifies sadness is a myth. [1, 10]
Understanding Tears
Tears are produced by glands in your eyes and serve multiple purposes: [2, 3, 4, 6, 7]
- Basal tears: These are constantly present to lubricate, nourish, and protect the cornea. [2, 6]
- Emotional tears: These are released during emotional experiences like sadness, joy, or anger. [3, 4, 6, 7] While their composition differs slightly from basal tears, [3] the mechanism of their release doesn't favor one eye over the other.
- Reflex tears: These are produced in response to irritants, such as onion fumes or dust. [7]
The belief that tears from a specific eye hold a particular emotional meaning is unfounded. While emotional tears are associated with sadness, their origin from the left or right eye is purely random. The body doesn't differentiate between the eyes during an emotional response. [1]
Although a study suggests that emotional tears influence the way people gaze at the eyes of a sad person, this doesn't indicate that the tears originate from a particular eye. [8]
Therefore, regardless of the emotion experienced, tears originate from both eyes simultaneously or nearly simultaneously, there is no basis for assigning emotional significance to the order of tears.
