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Traditional Chinese Medicine (Tcm)

The human body is an organic unit with its tissues and organs interrelated and mutually dependent. Therefore, the health of the eyes, being the optical organ of the body, can influence and be influenced by any and every other organ in the body. Makes sense, right? Not to everyone. Particularly not to Western medicine. But to practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), dealing with the body holistically is the basis of their practice. A TCM practitioner is trained to put the body's energy back into balance by using herbs, acupuncture, acupressure and other methods.

The Five Elements

Reprinted with permission from Feminine Healing by Jason Elias and Katherine Ketcham. New York: Warner Books, 1995.

Thousands of years ago, Chinese philosophers created the Wu Hsing or Five Element System to explain how the primary forces of nature ebb and flow within the human body. Each of the five elements wood, water, earth, metal and fire depends upon the others, and life depends upon their intricate balance and interdependence. In Chinese medicine, the emphasis is on patterns of body function in contrast to the Western structural bias.

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Thus, while Western terms corresponding to organs are used, they refer here to functional processes which often represent the organ that characterizes them.

The Chinese believe that both physical and emotional dysfunctions are due to an imbalance in these energies. Therefore, all eye conditions can be viewed as either an excess or deficiency in certain elemental energies.

The Wood Element. Glaucoma can be looked at as "excess wood," which means that the wood element's energy is out of balance and in excess and therefore is creating high pressure in the eye. The liver and gall bladder are the organs associated with wood, and the liver is the organ most directly related to eye health; your visual ability depends on how well the liver does its job. The liver metabolizes carbohydrates, fats and proteins, providing important nourishment essential for the eyes. In TCM, it is the most important organ for storing blood and by doing so, it regulates the volume of blood in the body at any given time.

The liver also controls the state of the tendons, which affects our capacity for movement and physical activity. The tendon's capacity for contraction and relaxationso important in the eye depends on the nourishment and circulation of the blood from the liver.

In TCM, the liver also is the organ responsible for regulating and dispersing the flow of energy called qi (pronounced "chee") throughout the body. When qi is unbalanced, illness occurs.

Unbalanced qi in the gall bladder, which stores the bile manufactured by the liver, is associated with glaucoma as well as conjunctivitis, light sensitivity (photophobia), floaters and dry eyes.

The liver stores the blood. During the day, the liver provides the blood for movement and activities so that the blood can circulate through the channels and collaterals. At night, when one sleeps, the blood returns to the liver. When the liver is nourished by the blood, one can see. When the feet are perfused with blood, one can walk. When the hands are nourished by blood, they can grasp. When the fingers are provided with blood, one can carry.

The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine by Huang Di

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The Fire Element. The four organ systems associated with fire are the heart and its lining, the pericardium, the small intestine and the triple heater. The triple heater (what Western medicine calls the endocrine system) is responsible for heating and cooling the entire body. When the triple heater is not working in harmony with the body, excess heat in the upper part of the body can result in glaucoma, conjunctivitis, sties or dry eyes.

As important as the liver is in regulating the qi, the heart has an equally profound job: In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the heart is in charge of blood flow throughout the body. Heart "energy" is what causes blood to course through the blood vessels. Any heart dysfunction will decrease the amount of blood flow, resulting in a lack of nourishment to the eye. This lack of nourishment, of course, results in disease.

The small intestine is considered part of this blood nourishment system because it is there that food is broken down into usable nutrients and those that must be excreted. The small intestine absorbs the usable nutrients and carries them to the spleen, where they are transformed into qi and blood. If the heart, small intestine and spleen are doing their jobs, your eyes will be moist and clear. If they're not, you can expect symptoms which may include conjunctivitis, light sensitivity, excess tearing and dry eyes.

The Water Element. Remember that in Traditional Chinese Medicine, all organs are interrelated; they influence and are influenced by every other organ. Let's look at the role of the kidneys. The kidneys receive and store the essences of all of the other organs. (In Chinese medicine, essence is the original material that forms the basis of all other tissues; in Western medicine, we would call it DNA.) Since visual function depends on nourishment from the essence of all of the other organs, there is a close relationship between the health of the kidneys and the health of the eyes.

Of course the kidneys have another job too that of controlling water metabolism in the body. The kidneys and the bladder are the main organs associated with the water element. The kidneys play an important role in the distribution, retention and excretion of water. The bladder stores and excretes water, so it too is part of this system. When this system is working up to par and the kidney essence or qi is flowing throughout the body the way it should, water and other body fluids will be transformed into tears and aqueous humor, and your eyes will be clear and bright. Cataracts, macular degeneration, dry eyes and conjunctivitis