Acupuncture in Glaucoma Treatment

Glaucoma is a chronic disease with an insidious character that progressively destroys the optic nerve, progresses silently for years, can lead to blindness, and generally progresses with high intraocular pressure. Aqueous humor drainage; the trabecular route is the uveoscleral route. In eyes with high blood pressure, the flow resistance in the schilem canal increases and endogenous steroid elevation may be observed.

Acupuncture; It can reduce resistance, balance endogenous steroid, regulate aqueous humor production. Increases optic nerve head nutrition.

CASE:
A one-eyed, 62-year-old male patient: Full dose of medication, TO: right, 20-24, left: 12 (blind eye), 10 sessions of acupuncture, 2 times a week, were performed. Eye pressure measurements are taken 5 minutes from the sessions. before and 5 min. was done later. In the patient; 5 minutes from the session. the next intraocular pressure measurement was 1-2 mmHg higher. Other measurements tended to decrease from baseline (2-3 mmHg). Measurements were made between st.17-19 hours. As a result, it was observed that the intraocular pressure was 1-3 mmHg lower with acupuncture treatment, and it was seen that acupuncture contributed to glaucoma together with drugs.

Kurusu et al., in their study on 11 glaucoma patients from Japan, when they measured their intraocular pressures at the 15th minute, 1st week, 2nd week and 5th week after the start of acupuncture treatment, they showed a tendency to decrease more and more from the baseline value, and there was a statistically significant decrease. they have detected.
They showed that acupuncture treatment can contribute to the control of intraocular pressure when applied in addition to glaucoma treatment. (one)

Hummelsberger et al. investigated the effect of acupuncture treatment on intraocular pressure in patients with glaucoma and ocular hypertension in a prospective study from Germany. 18 patients received 1 cure of acupuncture treatment. ( liv-3 Li-4 gb-37)

Target parameters; measurements such as decrease in intraocular pressure, suitability of treatment. Intraocular pressure measurement 15 minutes after acupuncture. before, after 15 min, and after 24 hours. Significant decreases were observed in mean intraocular pressures (21.94 +/-2.4 mmHg.) 15 minutes after treatment (-2.67 +/-1.34 mmHg) and up to 24 hours later (-2.5 +/-2.13 mmHg). No side effects were observed.

As a result of the study, acupuncture therapy proved to be a valid treatment for glaucoma and ocular hypertension. (2)

References
1. Acupuncture for patients with glaucoma. Kurusu M, Watanabe K, Nakazawa et al. Explore (NY). 2005 Sep;1(5):372-6.)
2. Standardized acupuncture therapy in patients with ocular hypertension or glaucoma--results of a prospective observation study. Uhrig S, Hummelsberger J, Brinkhaus B. Forsch Komplementarmed Klass Naturheilkd. 2003 Oct;10(5):256-61. german

UVEIT

Inflammation of the uveal tract is also used to describe many intraocular inflammations involving adjacent structures.

Uvea anatomy:
The uveal system consists of three parts. Iris: It is a thin, contractile and pigmented diaphragm suspended in aqueous humor between the cornea and the lens. It adheres to the anterior surface of the ciliary body. Corpus Ciliare: It is located between the iris root and the choroid, in the form of a ring, on the inner surface of the anterior sclera. Choroid: It is a vascular structure between the sclera and the retina, extending from the optic disc posteriorly to the ciliary body anteriorly.

CASE;
A 41-year-old female patient with anterior uveitis had recurrent uveitis every 6 months for 4-5 years. The reason was not entirely clear. When the patient came with an active uveitis attack, 1 cure of acupuncture treatment was applied twice a week, in addition to the medical treatment of modern medicine. The patient's response to drug therapy was faster. The drug treatment was terminated in two weeks. The patient was followed for 2 years and no uveitis attack developed during this period.

3. Prevalent use of complementary and alternative medicine by patients with inflammatory eye disease. Smith JR, Spurrier NJ, Martin JT, Rosenbaum JT. Ocul Immunol Inflamm. 2004 Sep;12(3):203-14.

Smith et al. investigated the frequency of use of complementary and alternative medicine in inflammatory eye diseases in Portland, USA.

Their aim was to investigate the frequency of use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in inflammatory eye diseases. The study was conducted in the form of face-to-face interviews with university-referenced patients with inflammatory eye disease in 3 separate periods. Complementary and alternative medicine treatment was observed in 37 (42%) of 89 patients. It was observed that vitamin therapy was applied to 13 patients, herbal therapy to 10 patients, prayer therapy to 15 patients, and acupuncture therapy to 9 patients. More than one third of the patients were using complementary and alternative therapy.

In conclusion, the use of complementary and alternative medicine is common in inflammatory eye diseases. Because the treatment of this disease is long, the drugs used have side effects and may affect the immune system. Clinicians should routinely question other treatments for these diseases.

FRACTURE DEFECTS (REFRACTIVE DISEASES)
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