Can Acupuncture Help Restore Vision?

By Young Yi, LAc, DOM

Yi’s Acupuncture & Herbal Clinic

. http://eyecure.net/

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Can Acupuncture Help Restore Vision?

Acupuncture has been used for millennia to treat eye disease. Today, acupuncture can help preserve vision for those with a wide range of eye conditions including macular degeneration, glaucoma, eye floaters, dry eyes, cataracts and much more. Part of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), acupuncture involves a practitioner inserting tiny needles into the skin. It is licensed and regulated by most states in the US.

Acupuncture is well known to be effective in the treatment of conditions such as back/neck pain, osteoarthritis/knee pain, headaches, anxiety, depression, nausea, and infertility. Not many are familiar with its benefits for eyesight, so that’s what this article will discuss.

Acupuncture benefits eyesight for patients with vision loss, according to Beijing University of Chinese Medicine researchers. Results from a controlled investigation by Yan, et al., published in the Journal of Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, tested the efficacy of a four point acupuncture prescription for the treatment of vision loss. Based on the data, the researchers determined that acupuncture benefits vision.

Acupuncture measurably caused significant improvements in important visual indices. It significantly improved mean sensitivity (MS) and decreased mean defect (MD) for patients participating in the study. In addition, it significantly increased the visually evoked potential (VEP).

Mean sensitivity is a measurement of the retina’s sensitivity to light. It is the difference between all classes of visual defects for the patient compared with normal values for their age. Visually evoked potential is an electroencephalogram (EEG) measurement of an evoked potential triggered by a visual stimulus. This helps in the detection of optic nerve disorders and tests responses to light. The results of the investigation demonstrated that acupuncture improves MS, MD, and VEP for patients with vision loss.

Three local acupuncture points in the eye region were combined with one acupuncture point in the suboccipital region. All four acupuncture points are classically indicated within TCM for the treatment of eye disorders.

The research was conducted under direction of the Department of Ophthalmology at the Dongfang Hospital (Beijing University of Chinese Medicine). Given the significant improvements in MS, MD and VEP, the researchers concluded that acupuncture benefits vision for patients with diminished eyesight.

Can Acupuncture Help
Restore My Vision?

If you’re experiencing vision loss, it is imperative to see a doctor immediately. It’s also worth your time to find an acupuncturist who has experience treating vision loss, to see if their services can help facilitate recovery.