Dry eye disease (DED) is one of the most common disorders encountered in ophthalmologic practice. The estimated prevalence of DED is between five and 30 per cent in various age groups, a survey, which has been conducted for over 20 years revealed.
DED, which is also known as multi-factorial disease, affects tear production and the ocular surface. With potential damage to the ocular surface, DED results in symptoms of discomfort, visual disturbance and tear-film instability. Patients may complain of burning, itching, stinging, grittiness, foreign-body sensation, tearing, ocular fatigue and dryness.
DED is closely associated with age and gender. In Taiwan, the prevalence of DED is 33.7 per cent in an elderly population with more female cases than males. DED has significant impact on the quality of life and daily activities. At present, the conventional first-line therapy is topical use of artificial tear substitutes, which only relieve symptoms temporarily without addressing the underlying cause.
To alleviate the discomforts of DED, new therapies are continuously being explored. Although there are increasing studies on this subject, opthalmologists still have difficulty treating moderate-to-severe DED using current options.
In fact, the health care expenditure and societal costs of DED have been higher than previously estimated. Furthermore, the number of patients with DED is expected to increase dramatically as the population of senior citizen is growing.
In recent years, there has been a developing interest in complementary and alternative medicine to find a new treatment for DED. Among various kinds of new therapies, acupuncture and Chinese herbs are commonly used for DED among elderly and menopausal women in Taiwan.
This report introduces the use of acupuncture combined with Chinese herbal remedies for treating patients with DED based on their Traditional Chinese Medicine diagnoses.
Acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine were used to treat a 65-year-old man who had dry eye disease. He had complained of dryness and stinging sensation in his eyes for five months. His eye discomforts were frequently exacerbated in the afternoon and in air-conditioned spaces. He consulted an ophthalmologist, who made the diagnosis of dry eye disease and prescribed artificial tears. However, the patient’s feeling of tired eyes had hindered his daily activities considerably, even with the use of the artificial tears supplement.
The patient thus consulted the Chinese medicine department in a Taiwan hospital, which diagnosed his case as Kidney Yang Deficiency .
The patient went through a one-month treatment with a daily dose of Chinese herbal medicine and weekly acupuncture sessions. The stinging sensation was reduced by 60 per cent. After four-month treatment, the doctor ordered to stop on the use of artificial tears. The patient reported that he had occasional fatigued eyes in the afternoon, but his life is much better than before.
The author is Head of Acupuncture at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi