The eyes are the windows to the soul, and children’s eyes should be clear and transparent, however, the latest data from the National Student Health Survey shows that the prevalence of myopia among elementary school students is 22.78%, 55.22% for secondary school students and 70.34% for high school students. More alarmingly, a survey reported that more than 300,000 people in China have become blind due to high myopia. Therefore, the prevention and treatment of myopia in children and adolescents is a growing concern for students, parents and society.
How does TCM recognize myopia in children?
Chinese medicine believes that “the essence of the five viscera and six internal organs are all injected into the eye and the eye is the eye”, “the eye gets blood and can see”, the eye is made of the innate essence of the internal organs and is nourished by the essence of the internal organs, meaning that the essence of the five viscera and six internal organs rises to the eye and the eye gets nourished by blood and can The eyes are nourished by blood and can see the outside world.
The nutritional factor of the eye is the internal cause of myopia. The youth “five organs and six internal organs, into but not complete, full but not strong”, “liver often surplus, spleen often deficient, kidney often deficient”, the internal organs of the Qi is not full, and the body is in a period of growth and development and immaturity, during this period need to have a lot of balanced nutrition, provide During this period, the body needs a lot of balanced nutrition to meet the developmental requirements of all body organs. However, due to the heavy academic load of children, nutritional imbalance is common, which results in the imbalance of Qi and blood in the internal organs and the growing weakness of the liver, spleen and kidneys. The eyes are nourished by the qi and blood of the internal organs to perform their normal visual functions, but due to the poor function of the liver, spleen and kidneys, the nutrition of the eyes cannot be supplied in a timely manner, and over time, myopia is induced.
In addition, the seven emotions of happiness, anger, worry, thought, sadness, fear and fear are also the main causes of myopia. Because too much excitement, too much depression, too much anger, too much strain and effort can cause the body’s yin and yang imbalance, disorder of the internal organs, loss of harmony between qi and blood, meridian blockage, eye nutrient channels are not smooth, the eyes are not nourished, the crystal elasticity is reduced, myopia then appears.
Therefore, in Chinese medicine, the eyes are closely related to all internal organs. For example, the eyelids belong to the spleen, the whites of the eyes belong to the lungs, the blood channels at the corners of the eyes belong to the heart, the black eyes belong to the liver, and the pupils belong to the kidneys, which are like five wheels that are interlocked.
Signs of myopia in children.
1, eye fatigue.
Eye fatigue is manifested as a feeling of heavy handwriting and floating instability when reading a book. Some people may experience a brief blurring in front of their eyes when they move to a near object after looking far away for a long time, or when they move to a distant object after looking near for a long time.
2. Systemic nerve disorders.
Some students who had good grades will become bored with learning, not concentrating enough when listening to the lecture, their reaction is also a little slow, their temper becomes impatient, they lack interest in their favorite things, their academic performance decreases, they sleep a lot at night, they sweat a lot, they are easily tired, and they have symptoms such as dizziness and loss of appetite. This is a manifestation of central and vegetative nerve disorder affected by eye strain.
3, perceptual allergy.
Perceptual allergy refers to the fatigue perceptual allergy of the sensory nerves of the eyes, many people also have dry eyes, burning, itching and eye swelling pain; some people’s swelling pain can spread to the deep part of the orbit, and even cause migraine, and even neck, shoulder and back pain, these are all signs of pediatric myopia.
Correctly distinguish between true myopia and pseudomyopia.
In children, the ciliary muscle is often contracted due to inappropriate reading, writing or insufficient lighting, and the lens becomes convex and does not relax easily, so that when parallel light from a distance enters the eye, the focus no longer falls on the retina after the strong refraction of the lens becomes convex, but falls in front of the retina, making things blurry, which is medically called pseudomyopia.
In pseudomyopia, the anterior and posterior diameters of the eye are not lengthened and the structure of the eye is not changed, but only the physiological function is changed. With timely treatment and protection, the ciliary muscle can be relaxed and the vision can be restored to normal. If the pseudomyopia stage is not taken seriously and continues to develop, the anterior and posterior axes of the eye will become longer, and the structure of the eye will change and become true myopia, which must be corrected by wearing glasses.
To identify true and pseudomyopia, in addition to hospital optometry, a simple method can be hung at a distance of 5 meters an international standard vision table, first determine the vision, then put on 300 degrees of presbyopic glasses, look into the distance, in front of the eyes will slowly appear cloudy scenery, half an hour after removing the glasses, and then check the vision, such as vision enhancement, can be considered pseudomyopia; such as vision remains or rather decline, according to this method once a day, continuous Repeat this method once a day for three days, and if the visual acuity still does not improve, it can be identified as true myopia.
Application of Chinese medical methods to prevent myopia in children.
1. Acupressure method.
(1) Press and rub the Zanzhu point
Location: On the face, in the depression of the inner end of the eyebrow, in the supraorbital notch.
Method: Press the threaded surfaces of the thumbs of both hands on both sides of the acupuncture points, the rest of the fingers naturally relaxed, fingertips against the forehead, gently press the points 10 circles.
(2) press the eye point
Location: In the face, slightly above the recess of the inner canthus of the eye.
Method: Press the threaded surface of the index finger on each side of the acupuncture point with both hands, naturally relax and hold the remaining fingers in a hollow fist, and press the point up and down for 10 turns.
(3) press and rub the four white points
Location: eye square, pupil straight down, when the zygomatic bone above the depression.
Method: press the points on both sides with the threaded surfaces of the index fingers of both hands, thumbs against the jaw depression, and the remaining fingers naturally relaxed and held in a hollow fist shape, and press and knead the points 10 times.
(4) press and knead the solar plexus, scraping the upper orbit
Location: in front of the auricle, both sides of the forehead, above the extension of the outer corner of the eye.
Method: Press the threaded side of the thumbs of both hands on both sides of the temples, and the remaining fingers are naturally relaxed and bent, first using the thumbs to press and knead the temples for 10 turns. Then, without moving the thumbs, use the inner side of the second joint of the index finger of both hands, scraping with a little force from the head to the tip of the eyebrows, and scraping 10 times.
(5) Press and rub the Fengchi point
Location: In the neck, under the occipital bone, level with the Fengfu point, in the depression between the sternocleidomastoid muscle and the upper end of the trapezius muscle, i.e., at the back of the skull, parallel to the earlobe on both sides of the large tendon of the neck.
Method: Press the threaded surfaces of the index and middle fingers of both hands on each side of the acupuncture point, while the remaining three fingers are naturally relaxed, and knead the point 10 times.
(6) Knead the earlobes and grip the ground with your toes
Method: pinch the eye point in the middle of the earlobe with the threaded side of the thumb and index finger of both hands, bend the remaining three fingers together naturally, knead the point with the thumb and index finger, and at the same time use all the toes of both feet to do the grip movement, a total of 10 times.
2, ironing eye method
Ironing eye method is to use both hands of the part where the Laogong point hot compress eyes. First, the hands rubbed hot, then close your eyes, empty palms over the eyes, stay a little longer. Once a day, once 20 times, can brighten the eyes to dispel the wind, go to the eye miasma. If children study for a long time, you can use the ironing method, which is good for the rest of the eyes.
3.Medicinal meal: seaweed cassia soup
Effects: Clear the liver and brighten the eyes.
Ingredients: kelp 25 grams, grass cassia 12 grams.
Production: kelp soaked in water and soaked, washed and cut into shreds, put in a pot, add the right amount of water and cooked with cassia into soup.
Usage: Eat in the morning on an empty stomach, eat kelp and drink soup.
Daily preventive measures for pediatric myopia: 1. Develop good hygiene habits and prevent eye infections. Parents should educate their children to develop good hygiene habits, wash their hands regularly, do not rub their eyes with dirty hands; prevent sand, dust and other objects from falling into the eyes. In the summer, the light is too strong, to prevent children’s eyes from being stabbed by ultraviolet rays, when going out, it is best for children to wear sunglasses, sun hats, etc. to protect their eyes. 2, parents should consciously create good lighting conditions for their children, light should come from the left or left front, so that the shadow does not block the light. 3, reading and writing posture should be correct, should not be lying in bed or in a car that is running. The first thing you need to do is to take a break for an hour or so and look into the distance or do eye exercises. 4. 6. parents should always tell their children about the dangers of myopia, let them know how to prevent myopia, and make them consciously develop good eye habits. Parents should pay attention to the child’s whole body nutrition, but also pay attention to the child’s eye nutrition, grains and cereals, meat and vegetables, eat more green vegetables, do not be partial food. Such as lack of vitamins in food is prone to night blindness and dry eye disease, lack of trace elements chromium and calcium in food, prone to myopia. A proper diet can help treat eye diseases. You can eat pork liver and lamb liver, and less spicy and oily food to help protect your eyes. Experts suggest that eating too much sweet food is prone to myopia, so proper control of sweet food intake is beneficial to prevent myopia.7. Regular vision checks, when children are found to be myopic, do not rush to give them glasses, but distinguish whether the child belongs to true myopia or pseudomyopia. If myopia is found, take corrective measures in time.