Glaucoma

This is an eye disease with tense eyeball, dilated and greenish pupil, and marked impairment of vision which may cause blindness. It is often caused by emotional excitement or over fatigue, and in the early stages the patient may suffer from slight distension of eyeball, ipsilateral frontal headache, soreness of the nose, and blurred vision as though the eyeball were covered by fog. After a rest, the symptoms may disappear, but if not effectively treated serious clinical manifestations of glaucoma may appear. In traditional Chinese medicine glaucoma can be divided into two types: The prompt onset of greenish glaucoma and the insidious onset of bluish glaucoma. Glaucoma in modern medicine is similar and can be treated by the following methods. Applications of hand therapy: Massage therapy: Location: Palm, fingers, liver, kidney, and eye areas, Dagukong (EX-UE 5), Xiaogukong (EX-UE 6), Shangyang (Ll 1), Shaoze (SI 1) and Houxi (SI 3) acupoints. Method of manipulation: Pushing and pressing the palmar and both sides of fingers; pushing and grinding maneuvers applied to liver, eye, and kidney areas, Shangyang (LI 1), Shaoze (SI 1), and Houxi (SI 3) acupoints. During application of massage, the patient is asked to relax his body with eyes closed and concentrate attention on the eyes. Acupuncture therapy: At regular and extra acupoint: Location: Hegu (LI 4) acupoint. Method of manipulation: The strong stimulation is applied and the needle is

retained for 30 minutes. At reflective points: Location: Eye and liver points. Method of manipulation: The needles are retained for five minutes. At special acupoints beside the second metacarpal bone: Location: Head acupoint and liver acupoint. Method of manipulation: The needles are inserted for 1.6 cm and retained for 15 minutes.