myopia+(near-sightedness)

In myopia, objects at close distances are seen more clearly than objects at far distances. The conventional belief is that myopia occurs secondarily to an excessive curvature of the cornea and/or a longer-than-normal eyeball. The degree of near sightedness can vary as can the age of onset and rate of progression. Nearsightedness doe not just develop all of the sudden, but develops slowly over time. Most nearsighted people develop symptoms by the age of eight or nine and progress over the next ten years. The condition often stabilizes by the late teens or early twenties.

Signs & Symptoms
Blurred sight at a distance is the primary symptom of myopia. Both eyes are usually involved but one may be worse than the other. Sight tends to be worse at night. The early signs of myopia tend to occur in the child who has his or her face in the book for long periods of time without ever looking up. That child might experience some blurring at distance as he or she looks up and finds it takes longer to get far-away objects into focus.

What is near sightedness?
On an optical level nearsightedness is very easy to understand. When light comes into the eye, it is first bent by the cornea, then by the lens. In myopia, instead of focusing on the retina in the area called the fovea, the light focuses in front of the retina. This results in the image appearing blurred for distant objects. The eye doctor measures the amount of blur and prescribes a lens in either glasses or contact lenses that bends the light so that it focuses on the retina on the fovea. This results in a clear image. The corrective lens is called a concave lens.

Myopia affects more than 80 million people in the United States. Less than five per cent of people are born nearsighted, with symptoms appearing in the first five years of life. The majority of people who develop nearsightedness get it in the first 18 years of life. By age 10 about 10% of people of people in the United States are nearsighted, by age 15 the nearsighted population increases to 25%, by age 18 it increases to 40% of the population. The the progression of nearsightedness stops for most people in their early twenties.

These increasing percentages correspond very well to the increasing near work required in school. This is a prime example of "function affecting structure" As we read more or do more computer work (or both), the muscles of our eyes that control the focusing of the eye (the ciliary muscles) are called upon to work overtime in order to focus at a near distance. As they do this for longer and longer periods of time, the muscles find it hard to relax into a position to focus at a distance. Many studies in the scientific literature have substantiated this theory.

Conventional Treatment
Glasses or contacts are prescribed to correct the refraction error

Complementary Approach
Diet: vision diet Nutrients Lutein Billberry Multi-green formula

TCM Approach
In TCM, myopia or astigmatism can be caused by Liver and/or Kidney deficiency, Liver blood deficiency and/or Heart Yin deficiency, or combinations of these patterns.

Heart Yang Insufficiency Herbal treatment: modified ding zhi wan [yuan zhi (10g), shi Chang pu (10g.), dang Shen (10g.), fu ling (10g.), zhu sha (3g.)] modifications: eye distancing pain & fatigue: + mu Gua (10g.), bai shao (10g.)

Heart Yin Deficiency Herbal Treatment: Tian Wang Bu Xin Dan (Emperor of Heaven Special Pill to Tonify the Heart) Acupuncture Treatment: [GB-20, GB-1, BL-2, ST-1, BL-1, TW-23, ST-2, LI-4] + CV-14, CV-17, HT-7, SP-6, KI-6, BL-15, HT-3

Kidney/Liver Yin Deficiency Herbal Treatment: Ming Mu Di Huang Tang (Brighten the Eyes Formula) Acupuncture Treatment: [GB-20, GB-1, BL-2, ST-1, BL-1, TW-23, ST-2, LI-4] + LR-3, LR-14, KI-3, BL-18, BL-23, SP-6

Liver Blood Deficiency Herbal Treatment: Ming Mu Di Huang Tang (Brighten the Eyes Formula) Acupuncture Treatment: [GB-20, GB-1, BL-2, ST-1, BL-1, TW-23, ST-2, LI-4] + GV-20, SP-6, ST-36, LR-3, LR-8