What should you do if you have the terminal disease of "dry eyes" like Gao Qiqiang in "The Storm"? Chinese medicine experts tell you

Recently, the anti-gangster drama "Kuang Biao" has been on the air. In the drama, Gao Qiqiang claims that he has a terminal illness in order to see his wife Chen Shuting. What terminal illness? Dry eye syndrome... "There is currently no medicine that can cure it, and you have to use eye drops all the time." This plot has caused the audience to wonder, what is dry eye syndrome? Chen Guoxiao, an ophthalmologist at Zhejiang Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine and honorary chairman of the Ophthalmology Branch of Zhejiang Provincial Association of Traditional Chinese Medicine, answered related questions.

What is dry eye

Chen Guoxiao introduced that in fact, in the clinical definition, this type of disease is called "dry eyes" rather than "dry eye syndrome". In the concept of traditional Chinese medicine, dry eyes are called "white astringency" in mild cases and "divine water will dry up" in severe cases. As the name suggests, it is a type of ocular surface disease with dry eyes as the main symptom, often accompanied by red and itchy eyes, burning eyes, fatigue, foreign body sensation, stinging, fear of light, vision fluctuations, etc. Long-term illness can cause obvious blurred vision.

What are the causes of dry eyes?

Chen Guoxiao said that the main cause of dry eyes is reduced tear secretion or poor quality of secreted tears. People apply a thin layer of tear film on the cornea by blinking to moisten the eyes. If the frequency of blinking is reduced, too little tear will be applied to the surface of the eyeball, and the cornea will become rough. Over time, it is easy to cause corneal epithelial defects and a noticeable foreign body sensation.

From the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, the causes of dry eyes can be divided into two categories according to age. Dry eyes in the elderly are mostly caused by liver and kidney yin deficiency and insufficient blood. As people age, they become weak and naturally suffer from liver and kidney yin deficiency and insufficient blood, which makes it impossible to maintain their eyes. Young patients experience dry eyes because they stay up late and hurt their yin, and long-term vision hurts their blood. In layman's terms, looking at things all day long will hurt your mind, blood, yin, and qi, which can easily cause insufficient qi and blood, and loss of yin essence, which is reflected in the eyes as dry eyes. At the same time, it can also be caused by other factors such as improper diet, damaged spleen and stomach, and internal dampness and heat. In short, incorrect eye habits, environment, age, psychology, lack of sleep and other factors may all lead to dry eyes.

Why is the Spring Festival

What causes the high incidence of dry eyes?

Chen Guoxiao pointed out that dry eyes used to be common in the middle-aged and elderly groups. As people age, their endocrine system becomes disordered, their metabolism slows down, and their lacrimal glands begin to atrophy, which affects the secretion of tears. Most patients with dry eyes are elderly people. But now, dry eyes are becoming younger and more common, and children and adolescents can also suffer from this disease. This is because of the popularity of smart terminals such as mobile phones and tablets, people overuse their eyes, and stay up late to work. During the Spring Festival, people played with their mobile phones, played games, stayed up late to watch TV series, had irregular work and rest, and had an irregular diet. They stared at the screen for a long time or used their eyes to reduce the frequency of blinking. On the other hand, the dryness in winter, coupled with the use of air conditioning and heating in the home, makes tears evaporate faster than before. Over time, related symptoms such as eye fatigue, foreign body sensation, and dryness will appear, thus inducing dry eyes.

Is dry eyes really a terminal illness?

Chen Guoxiao introduced that Chinese medicine takes a "holistic concept" as its starting point when treating dry eyes, focusing on the basic principle of "treating both the symptoms and the root causes."

On the one hand, artificial tears containing the following ingredients are used, such as sodium hyaluronate, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose, sodium carboxymethylcellulose, carbomer, polyvinyl alcohol, polyethylene glycol, etc. It is advisable to choose artificial tears that do not contain or contain less preservatives. At the same time, patients are advised to change their lifestyle and eye habits. If these behaviors are not changed, no matter how many artificial tears are used, it will not help.

On the other hand, it is to use the four methods of observation, auscultation, questioning and palpation to differentiate and treat. It is clear whether the patient's disease is liver and kidney yin deficiency, yin deficiency and hyperactivity of fire, or spleen and stomach weakness, insufficient qi and blood, or yin and yang deficiency, or internal dampness and heat, or qi stagnation and blood stasis, and then prescribe the right medicine to comprehensively regulate the patient's own constitution and balance yin and yang, so as to achieve the purpose of treatment, reduce the frequency of patients using artificial tears, and finally achieve symptom relief or recovery. At the same time, it can be combined with other methods such as local fumigation and massage for treatment. Therefore, traditional Chinese medicine has great advantages in treating dry eyes, and dry eyes are by no means a "terminal illness."

How to relieve dry eye symptoms in daily life

Chen Guoxiao shared with everyone three traditional Chinese medicine therapies that can be used to relieve dry eyes in life:

1. Acupoint massage

Massage the acupoints around the eyes, such as Jingming, Zanzhu, Tongziliao, and the temples, for 3-5 minutes each, until you feel soreness and swelling in the area, or learn to do eye exercises. This can improve the circulation of qi and blood around the eyes, relax the muscles and tendons, and relieve eye fatigue.

2. Decoction of tea

1. Lycium chrysanthemum and cassia seed tea: 6g chrysanthemum, 15-20g wolfberry, 15g cassia seed, add water and boil, then drink. It has the effects of clearing liver and purging fire, nourishing yin and improving eyesight. People with qi deficiency and loose stools should not drink it.

2. Lotus seed heart tea: 3g lotus seed heart, add water and boil it and drink it. It has the effect of clearing the heart and removing internal heat. People with spleen and stomach deficiency and cold should not drink it.

3. Medicinal Diet

Chinese yam and wolfberry porridge: 1 cup of white rice, 300g Chinese yam, 10g wolfberry, 8 cups of water, cook the porridge and eat. Chinese yam can strengthen the spleen and lungs, strengthen the kidneys and improve the essence; wolfberry can nourish the liver and kidneys, improve the essence and improve the eyesight.

How to effectively prevent dry eyes

To protect your eyes and prevent dry eyes, Chen Guoxiao gives five suggestions:

First, improve your eye habits and reduce the time you use your eyes. Generally, after using your eyes for half an hour, it is best to let your eyes rest for a while. You can close your eyes, look into the distance, etc. to reduce eye fatigue and dry eye discomfort. At the same time, you can use artificial tears to relieve dry eyes.

The second is to blink more often to increase the moisture of the eye surface. Generally, blink at least 20 times per minute.

The third is to improve the surrounding environment and use less air conditioning. You can add a humidifier in the working environment, or place a basin of water next to the work position to increase the air humidity.

Fourth, you can use hot towels, steam eye masks, etc. to fumigate your eyes. This can not only increase humidity, but also promote blood circulation in the eyes, which is very beneficial for improving dry eye symptoms.

Fifth, proper diet adjustment. Eat less food that easily causes inflammation, such as mustard tuber, pepper, beef, mutton, dog meat, peanuts, melon seeds, etc. After excessive use of the eyes in front of the video terminal, the macula of the fundus is also easily damaged, so you can supplement carotene, such as eating carrots, blueberries, etc., to relieve eye fatigue.

Finally, Chen Guoxiao reminded that many people currently have mild or moderate symptoms, and they must be careful to prevent further aggravation. Long-term dryness of the ocular surface often causes corneal epithelial defects, which will eventually cause serious damage to vision. Therefore, once patients develop dry eyes, they should go to the hospital as soon as possible and pay attention to eye health!