Shine your eyes with tonics

  According to the theory of Chinese medicine, the human body is a complete system, and the eyes and the five internal organs of the human body are closely related.  The classic work of Chinese medicine “Huang Di Nei Jing” says that the essence of the five viscera and six internal organs are all injected into the eyes as the essence. The deficiency of any one of the five organs: heart, liver, spleen, lung and kidney can cause eye diseases. Therefore, from the perspective of Chinese medicine, a healthy person is one who is balanced in all aspects, not biased towards Yin or Yang, not biased towards deficiency and not biased towards reality. In modern society, the number of patients with three highs is increasing.  The increase in blood pressure, blood sugar and blood lipids often manifests itself in the blood vessels in the eyes, and the increase in the “three highs” often causes atherosclerosis of the retinal arteries in the eyes. If the arteries in the eyes are hardened, it means that the arteries in the whole body are also hardened.  Therefore, Chinese medicine treats eye diseases by combining disease identification and evidence-based treatment. For example, in the treatment of intraocular hemorrhage, TCM practitioners use methods such as benefitting Qi to stop bleeding, clearing heat to cool the blood, tonifying the liver and kidney, and stopping bleeding to eliminate stasis, depending on the situation.  With the right treatment, patients with intraocular hemorrhage can stop bleeding without leaving stasis, and resolve stasis without causing new bleeding, and sometimes the eye can be restored to light, which is often difficult to achieve with Western medicine alone.  Another example is the treatment of macular degeneration. According to Chinese medicine, the causes of macular degeneration are different, such as deficiency of liver and kidney, lack of qi and blood, excessive fatigue, mental stimulation, smoking and alcohol, high myopia may cause macular degeneration. Therefore, different treatment methods should be adopted for different causes.  For liver and kidney deficiency, the main treatment is to nourish liver and kidney; for qi and blood deficiency, the main treatment is to nourish qi and blood and activate blood circulation and remove stasis; for mental stimulation, it belongs to liver and qi stagnation, so emphasis should be placed on de-stressing liver and qi, and at the same time, psychological adjustment should be done to make the mood comfortable during the consultation and treatment; for edema, it is necessary to strengthen the spleen and promote water; and for others, it is necessary to support the righteousness and dispel evil. From the clinical practice, Chinese medicine is more characteristic in treating macular hemorrhage, “mid-pulp” and “mid-bleeding” in macular lesions.  Among the eye patients who come to me for treatment, the most frequently seen is macular degeneration.  When macular degeneration occurs, people will feel blurred vision, or black shadows in front of their eyes, or distortion, discoloration, or small vision, which will cause great inconvenience and pain to their work and life.  Macular degeneration is a general term, which includes macular degeneration, macular hemorrhage, “mesoplasm”, “mesocoria”, macular fissure, macular anterior membrane, macular cystoid edema and so on. The “mid-pulp” and “mid-bleed” are more common in young people, while age-related macular degeneration is of course more common in the elderly.  Macular degeneration is a difficult eye disease to treat. Most of the patients who come to me have been to many hospitals or have had retinal laser or photodynamic therapy. For this kind of patients, most of them can absorb and subside the hemorrhage, edema and exudation in the macula through a period of identification and treatment in Chinese medicine, so that the vision can be improved to different degrees. For some patients with macular scars, taking Chinese medicine can only stabilize their condition.  To prevent macular degeneration, it is necessary to pay attention to rest and not to use eyes excessively in general to avoid the formation of myopia. If myopia has developed, it is still necessary to pay attention to eye hygiene or to carry out proper treatment. This is because if left untreated, it may develop from general myopia to high myopia, and then to macular hemorrhage and other lesions, leading to increased complications in various areas.  One thing must be remembered, eye disease patients should have a regular life, try to smoke less, drink less, especially macular degeneration patients, should never touch alcohol.  In addition, parents should also guide their children to develop good eye habits.  Nowadays, computer, TV and cell phone are so popular, as adults should control the time of children’s use, and at the same time, adults should also set an example to avoid using eyes for too long.  School-age children should sit and write at a distance of one foot (equivalent to an arm’s length), too close to cause myopia.  If children need glasses, try to correct their vision to 5.0, rather than correcting it to 5.2. Normally, in terms of eating, pay attention to low sugar, low salt, low fat, you can eat more green vegetables and a variety of fruits, meat and vegetables, fine and coarse with reasonable, sometimes you can also drink some tea made with chrysanthemum, wolfberry, etc., has the effect of clearing the liver and brightening the eyes.  Life to maintain good habits, people should be synchronized with the laws of nature, the sun rises and move and rise, sunset and sleep quietly. A healthy routine should be to get up early and not go to bed too late, while actively participating in outdoor activities for exercise.