Scientific Proof to How your Body react to Acupuncture - Glaucoma

Acupuncture can reduce the intraocular pressure in the treatment of Glaucoma.

Glaucoma is a condition that damages the optic nerve and affects visual function and is a slow progressive disease. It is a major cause of blindness worldwide. Glaucoma is characterized by the degeneration of retinal ganglion cells, causing progressive optic neuropathy and finally resulting in changes to the optic nerve head. The main clinical manifestations of glaucoma are visual field defects and irreversible blindness. Both old age and high intraocular pressure (IOP) are risk factors for glaucoma development.

Lowering IOP is the only method proven to treat glaucoma, and IOP can be lowered through methods such as ocular hypotensive drops, laser trabeculoplasty, and surgery.

Many people also seek complementary or alternative medicine approaches such as acupuncture to aid in lowering the IOP for glaucoma.

Here are the scientific evidences that support this:

Conclusion: Acupuncture treatment resulted in a significant decrease in intraocular pressure and uncorrected and best corrected visual acuity also improved.

Conclusion: Pulsatile ocular blood flow increased significantly after the eye-specific acupuncture treatment from 5.6±4.3 to 6.7±4.9 µL/min (P=0.014).

Conclusion: IOP was reduced 60 min after acupuncture at acupoints BL1 and HX-EN7, and IOP was also reduced after finishing four acupuncture sessions, suggesting that acupuncture is beneficial for lowering IOP in glaucoma patients.