A real sneeze is one of the body's most automatic acts. It starts with an itch or tickle, then a deep gasp, a reflexive squeeze of the eyes, and an explosive burst of air. So when doctors meet a patient who sneezes dozens of times a day without allergies or infection, one of the first things they may watch is surprisingly simple: what the eyes do.
The question has fresh relevance. Earlier this year, U.K. neurologists proposed "functional sneeze" as a new form of functional movement disorder in the journal Movement Disorders Clinical Practice, after treating a 32-year-old man whose attacks reached 78 a day. And in August 2026, a review in Acta Neurologica Belgica mapped the neuroscience of the sneeze reflex, including psychogenic sneezing.
