Age-phase macular degeneration treated from the Shaoyin meridian

Age-related macular degeneration is an age-related blinding eye disease characterized by changes in the complex structure of pigment epithelium – vitreous membrane – choroidal capillaries. According to the Chinese medicine, age-related macular degeneration belongs to the category of “faint vision”, and the first detailed description of this disease was given in the “Zhuanzhi Zhuanzhi – Miscellaneous Diseases – Seven orifices”, “If a person is older than 50 years and faint, although the treatment does not return to the light, when the time is like the moon’s overlook, the natural eyesight is gradually thanked for the day of the decline of the sky. “, and “no symptoms inside and outside the eyes, but the vision is dim, obscure and unclear, there are labor, blood less, there are yuan qi weak, yuan essence deficiency and dim, causing different harm.” Therefore, most doctors treat the disease with deficiency evidence, but in clinical practice, it is more common to see phlegm and stagnation in the metaphysical office, the orifice is blocked, and qi, blood, and fluid cannot be honored in the eyes, Wang’s [2] divided the disease into dry phase, wet phase, and scar phase. Although the etiology of age-related macular degeneration is still unclear, the pathological mechanism of choroidal vascular changes has received increasing attention in recent years. In this disease, there are local pathological changes of choroidal neovascularization. Epidemiological investigations have also found that age-related macular degeneration is associated with hyperlipidemia and cardiovascular disease [3]. In ancestral medicine, the choroidal and retinal vessels are closely related to the Xuanfu theory. The theory of xuanfu originated from “The so-called xuanfu is also known as the sweat hole” in Suwen (Su Wen) and “The xuanfu is also known as the sweat hole” in Ling Shu (Little Needle Solution): “It is the gateway of the way in and out of the Qi, and the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, mind, and consciousness can be used, all of them are in and out of the fluent. The examination of the yaohuan and the fainting of the eyes” has: “all by the heat in the eyes, there is nothing to see. Therefore, the faint eyes are difficult to distinguish things when they are close to the eyes, because the eyes of the Xuanfu closed small, such as the image of seeing things through the curtain”. The Chinese Medical Encyclopedia – Chinese Medicine Ophthalmology Volume says: “Xuanfu, also known as Yuanfu. If the Xuanfu stagnation, the eyes lose nourishment and reduce brightness; if the Xuanfu is closed, the eyes do not nourish and three light extinction.” In modern research, Li Guoxin believes that microvascular atrial water circulation disorders in the eye are very similar to those caused by blockage and occlusion of the xuanfu in the ophthalmology theory of Chinese medicine. In Zhou Xuehai’s “Form and Color External Diagnosis in Brief Mo”, it is believed that the fine liao is both xuanfu, which is equivalent to the microcirculatory system. Wang Mingjie [5] advocated the “Xuanfu to pass microcirculation theory”, which believes that the exchange of nutrients in the blood vessels of the fundus is active, and when ischemia or microcirculation is impaired, the retinal function is impaired, and giving drugs to open the Xuanfu can regulate microcirculation and improve the blood circulation and nutrition of the optic nerve. <