Acupuncture for Eye Health

One of the lesser known things acupuncture can help with are eye conditions and vision.

Common eye conditions include macular degeneration, blepharitis, dry eyes, ptosis, and more. Patients often come to our office searching for other treatments to help promote eye health, reduce symptoms of Sjogren’s, macular degeneration, and improve vision.

What your eyes say about your health:

The eyes can reflect a lot of things regarding a person’s overall health.  Illnesses can be detected by the ophthalmologist in the very early stages. And conditions like glaucoma, neuritis and even vision loss can be indicators of systemic health problems. TCM has always known about the connection between the eyes and a person’s health. Many eye conditions respond well to acupuncture treatments and these methods have been used for centuries to assist in keeping the eyes healthy.

Acupuncturists pays very close attention to the relationship between the organs and the tissues.  Imbalances within the body can sometimes manifest as problems in the eyes.

Read Dr. Heintze’s previous post on enhancing eye health, here.

The main concept behind acupuncture is the nourishment and movement of blood and energy throughout the body to create harmonic balance. Quite frequently, there are imbalances in more than one organ system that lead to problems in the eyes. But the organ system most closely associated with the eyes in acupuncture viewpoint, is the liver. The liver “opens to the eyes.”

The liver provides the primary energy flow that is responsible for the support of healthy vision. Within the eye, certain meridians have primary influence over specific areas. For instance, the pupil is influenced by the kidney meridian, the retina is influenced by the liver and kidney meridians, and the sclera is influenced by the lung meridian. Reading the eye is one of the tools acupuncturists utilize when diagnosing a patient.

But can acupuncture actually help to improve vision and eye health?

What do the studies say?

A study conducted by researchers at the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine and published by the Journal of Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, demonstrates how acupuncture can improve visual acuity, reduce light sensitivity and decrease visual defects.

The study tested the efficacy of a four point acupuncture prescription in the treatment of loss of vision. The researchers used three acupuncture points around the eye and one point in the suboccipital region. All of the points are classically indicated in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for the treatment of eye problems. The test concluded acupuncture is beneficial in the treatment of vision problems.

Interesting, another study found that acupuncture can improve optic nerve cell metabolism and promote the local blood circulation, which allows the partially damaged optic nerves to be repaired. This can be beneficial to those with optic nerve atrophy.

To find out how Acupuncture and Naturopathic Medicine can help you with any vision issues you might have, give our office a call today at (425) 686-4498, to schedule your initial consultation.

Sources:

Uptodate.com

Acupuncture and dry eyes: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22615787/

Acupuncture for myopia: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4289244/

Optic Neuropathy:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6332962/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4458289/

He H. L., Qian X. L., Shu S. Research progress of acupuncture-moxibustion in treating optic atrophy. Journal of Yunnan Chinese Medicine. 2011;32(3):65–67.

Zhang H., Zhou J. F., Jin R. Effect of acupuncture on bulbar conjunctival microcirculation in optic atrophy patients. Journal of Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. 1996;13(2):25–26.