DEgenerative and hyperplastic changes of conjuctiva ---------------------------------------------------

The Yin hai jing wei begins with descriptions of degenerative and hyperplastic c hanges of the conjunctiva that describe the condition known in Western medicine as pterygium. The author describes red vessels spreading from the outer or inner canthus to the eyeball with an invasion of the cornea and an impairment of visi on. It states, These tendons obtain blood, and they gradually spread into the bla ck part of the eye and slowly extend to the pupil. In severe cases, vision is im paired just as if one were looking at things through a partition of silk. These te ndons are really conjunctival vessels that fill up with blood and restrict vision . This occurs due to repletion evil in the heart and liver accompanied by the mi nister of fire of the triple burner flaring upward. The etiology could be from e xcessive reading at night, heavy consumption of wine or indulging in spicy, frie d or hot food, all of which seem to be the principle etiologies behind many of t he eye diseases involving heat pathologies. The treatment for red vessels spread ing from the inner canthus utilizes herbs to release the fire and clear heat fro m the heart, liver and san jiao. First the patient should take the pills with thr ee yellow ingredients (huang lian, huang qin and da huang) and then the powder to cleanse the heart (dang gui, chi shao, da huanng, ma huang, jing jie, huang lian, zhi zi) to expel the illness. The powder to lead off redness (mo tong, gan cao, z hi zi, huang bai, sheng di, zhi mu) can also be used for the inflamed red vessel s and ba zheng san can be used to open the conduit of the small intestine to mak e the heart fire descend. For vessels spreading from the outer canthus, the powde r to drain the liver (jie geng, huang qin, da huang, mang xiao, zhi zi, che qian zi) or the powder with nine celestial ingredients (huang qin, jing jie, gan cao, c hi shao, ju hua, chuan xiong, dang gui, mu tong, bai zhi) can be used. Blepharitis

In this condition, the eyelids become red, tender and sore with sticky exudates and scales on the edges and may develop styes or meibomian cysts. This is descri bed as the two eyelids stick together and occurs when the spleen and stomach are a ffected by wind, cold and depletion. The evil qi gathers at the lids and as a re sult, the upper and lower lids turn red from the wind and become sore from the d ampness. During sleep the eyelids become glued together stagnating the blood tha t cannot disperse and eventually develops a shade membrane or a meiobomian cyst. I f this condition has continued on for years then the patient should take the deco ction with the dang gui to enliven the blood (dang gui, guang qi, mo yao, chuan x iong, cang zhu, jing, jie, bo he, shu di, qiang huo, ju hua, ma huang) and the po wder to clear the spirit (chuang xiong, bo he, qiang huo, fu mi, gao ben, fang fe ng, jing jie, chuan wu, zhi ke, shi gao, bei zhi, gan cao, xi xin, ma huang), wh ich is particularly good for shrinking the shade membrane. If the condition is m ore acute then the patient should take the powder with chan hua (gu jing cao, ju h ua, chan tui, qiang huo, gan cao, man jing zi, bai ji li, jue ming zi, fang feng , chuan xiong, zhi zi ren, mi meng hua, huang qin jing jie, mu zei) along with t he powder with mi meng hua (mi meng hua, qiang huo, ju hua, man jing zi, qing xian g zi, mu zei, shi jue ming, bai ji li, gou qi zi).