Can acupuncture cure myopia in children and adolescents?

01 Social Background

Children and adolescents are the future of the motherland and the hope of the nation. In recent years, due to the increasing burden of primary and secondary school students in and out of class, the popularity of electronic products such as mobile phones and computers, excessive and unhygienic use of eyes, lack of physical exercise and outdoor activities, etc., the myopia rate among children and adolescents in my country has remained high and continued to rise. Myopia is becoming more and more serious at a younger age, and has become a major problem related to the future of the country and the nation.

On July 13, 2021, the National Health Commission held a press conference and announced that the overall myopia rate among children and adolescents in my country was 52.7% in 2020, including 14.3% for 6-year-olds, 35.6% for primary school students, 71.1% for junior high school students, and 80.5% for high school students. The overall myopia rate in 2020 increased by 2.5 percentage points from 50.2% in 2019, but decreased by 0.9 percentage points from 53.6% in 2018.

Traditional Chinese medicine has irreplaceable advantages in the field of myopia prevention and control. Under the guidance of the idea of ​​"preventing disease before it occurs", traditional Chinese medicine's characteristic diagnosis and treatment techniques are used to intervene in different stages of myopia, such as ear acupoint pressure, eye exercises, needle pressing, moxibustion, acupuncture, plum blossom needle, acupoint massage, scraping, diet therapy, etc., which can prevent the occurrence of myopia, control the development of myopia, and prevent and treat complications caused by pathological myopia.

It is the unshirkable responsibility of TCM practitioners to give full play to the role of TCM in the prevention and treatment of myopia among children and adolescents and to promote the application of TCM-specific technologies and methods. Acupuncture therapy has the advantages of wide indications, significant efficacy, convenient application, economic safety, etc., and plays a positive role in the prevention and treatment of myopia among children and adolescents.

02 Traditional Chinese Medicine’s Understanding of Myopia

Myopia is an eye disease characterized by seeing near objects clearly but seeing far objects blurry. It is one of the ophthalmic refractive errors. The ancients called it "near vision but far vision syndrome". In the Qing Dynasty, Huang Tingjing's "Eye Sutra" began to call it "myopia". This disease is more common in teenagers, and in recent years, the trend of myopia in children has worsened.

The cause of myopia is related to congenital inheritance and bad eye habits. As mentioned at the beginning of this article, the increase in myopia rates among children and adolescents is closely related to the popularity of electronic products. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that myopia is mostly caused by insufficient congenital endowment, acquired stunted development, mental fatigue, loss of heart yang, deficiency of qi and blood in the heart, liver, and kidney, and improper use of the eyes, which causes blood stasis in the eye vessels and loss of nourishment to the eyes.

03 Clinical manifestations

Near objects are clear, distant objects are blurry, and objects seem dim, indicating decreased vision.

Pathological myopia (vision that is difficult to approach normal with corrected lenses) is accompanied by floaters, night blindness, and arcuate blind spots in addition to high myopia. If combined with high astigmatism, binocular polyopia or monocular diplopia may occur. External manifestations include pseudoexophthalmos, corneal pigmentation, and oscillatory nystagmus.

1. Liver and kidney deficiency: blurred vision, black spots flying in front of the eyes, dizziness, tinnitus, frequent dreams at night, soreness of waist and knees, red tongue with little coating, and thin pulse.

2. Weak spleen: easy visual fatigue, eyes tend to droop, loss of appetite, abdominal distension and diarrhea, weakness in the limbs, pale tongue, white fur, and weak pulse.

3. Deficiency of heart yang: fatigue, fear of cold, cold limbs, irritability, insomnia, forgetfulness, pale tongue, thin coating, and weak pulse.

04 Acupuncture treatment

Acupuncture treatment principles: nourish the liver and kidneys, strengthen the spleen and heart, nourish the blood and improve eyesight, use acupuncture and moxibustion together, and use the tonifying method.

Acupuncture prescription: mainly focus on the local eye area and acupoints of the Foot Yangming and Foot Shaoyang meridians.

Main acupoints: Jingming, Sibai, Taiyang, Fengchi, Guangming.

Combined acupoints: In case of liver and kidney deficiency, add Ganshu, Shenshu, Taichong and Taixi to nourish the liver and kidney, nourish the essence and improve the eyesight; in case of spleen deficiency and weak qi, add Pishu, Weishu, Zusanli and Sanyinjiao to nourish the middle and replenish qi, nourish blood and improve the eyesight; in case of insufficient heart yang, add Xinshu, Diaphragmshu, Neiguan and Shenmen to warm and nourish the heart yang, calm the mind and improve the eyesight.

Acupoint explanation: The three yang meridians of the foot are closely connected with the eyes. Jingming, Sibai and Taiyang are all located in the eye area. They are commonly used acupoints for treating eye diseases, as they can dredge the meridians, invigorate the collaterals, invigorate qi and improve eyesight. Fengchi is the intersection point of the foot Shaoyang and Yangwei meridians, which is connected to the eye network. Guangming is the foot Shaoyang gallbladder meridian point, which is connected to the liver. The two points can be matched to regulate the eye network, nourish the liver and improve eyesight.

05 Notes

Acupuncture is effective for mild and moderate myopia, and is particularly effective for pseudomyopia. The younger the age, the higher the cure rate. For most patients, once corrected with glasses, the effect of acupuncture is often not as good as that of those who do not wear glasses.

During acupuncture treatment, attention must be paid to eye hygiene. After using the eyes for a long time, you should close your eyes to rest or look into the distance; insist on doing eye exercises and meridian acupoint massage.

“Parents who love their children will plan for their future.” If you have children or teenagers with myopia around you, try acupuncture!