Treatment of Eye Diseases in Chinese Folk Medicine: Ancient Remedies and Methods

Traditional Chinese medicine treated eye diseases with remedies compounded from plant and animal materials, guided by a holistic framework that ties the health of the eyes to the state of the internal organs (more detail: Chinese medicinal preparations). This page collects the historical methods recorded in Chinese ophthalmology alongside the theory that underpins them and the modern research now testing those traditional remedies.

How traditional Chinese medicine treats eye diseases

Chinese ophthalmology approaches vision as an expression of whole-body balance rather than an isolated organ problem, so treatment works on the underlying pattern as much as on the eye itself. Classical practitioners drew on herbal formulas, acupuncture, dietary therapy, external compresses and delicate surgery, choosing the method to match the diagnosed disharmony. The tradition is old and well documented, and several of its recorded techniques predate comparable European practice.

General principles of Chinese ophthalmology

The core principle of Chinese ophthalmology is that clear vision depends on the smooth flow of Qi, blood and essence from the internal organs up to the eyes. Where a Western clinician isolates the eye, a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) practitioner reads the eye as a window onto the zang organs — the Liver, Kidney, Heart, Spleen and Lung. Diagnosis therefore proceeds by syndrome differentiation: identifying which organ pattern (deficiency, stagnation, excess heat, wind or dampness) is driving the visible symptom, then correcting that pattern to restore sight.

The Five-Wheel Theory (also expressed as the Five Wheels and Eight Regions framework) is the diagnostic map that assigns each anatomical zone of the eye to a governing organ. The Wind Wheel corresponds to the cornea and iris (Liver), the Blood Wheel to the inner and outer canthi (Heart), the Flesh Wheel to the eyelids (Spleen), the Qi Wheel to the sclera (Lung) and the Water Wheel to the pupil (Kidney). By locating where a lesion sits, the practitioner infers which organ is at fault. Related classical schemes — the Long Mu Theory and the Dragon Tree Bodhisattva Eye Theory — extended these correspondences into detailed treatment texts.

The connection between eye disease and general health

Eye conditions in TCM are read as signals of systemic imbalance, which is why treatment so often targets an internal organ rather than the eye surface. The Liver stores blood and "opens into the eyes," so Liver blood deficiency shows as blurred vision, floaters and night blindness, while Liver Qi stagnation and Liver Yang rising drive inflammation, redness and the raised pressure associated with glaucoma. Liver yin deficiency contributes to dry, gritty eyes.

The Kidneys govern the essence (jing) and yin that nourish the deeper structures of the eye, so Kidney yin deficiency is linked to degenerative disorders — cataract, macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa — that typically advance with age. The Spleen holds the eyelids and the tissues in place; Spleen Qi deficiency underlies drooping lids, watery eyes and poor eyelid health. The Heart houses the shen (spirit) and, through the blood, animates the brightness of the eyes. Qi flow and immune resilience round out the picture, explaining why fatigue, stress and modern screen-heavy lifestyles are treated as legitimate contributors to failing vision.

Eye diseases recognised in Chinese medicine

Chinese medicine catalogued nearly 100 distinct eye diseases, and its descriptions and treatments contain a number of genuinely striking observations. The classical texts addressed conditions that remain common today, grouped broadly into yang patterns (wind and fire, producing redness, heat and acute inflammation) and yin patterns (cold and dampness, producing chronic, sluggish complaints).

Principal eye pathologies and their classification

The pathologies most fully described in the Chinese sources cover the everyday range of ophthalmic complaints:

• conjunctivitis;
• trachoma;
• refractive errors, including myopia;
• cataract;
• entropion (inward-turning of the eyelids).

For each of these, Chinese ophthalmology left instructions worth close attention. The classification into internal-wind pathology, environmental pathogens (wind, cold, heat, damp) and organ-deficiency patterns let practitioners fit a single symptom into a broader treatment logic rather than treating it in isolation.

Conjunctivitis and trachoma

Conjunctivitis and trachoma were treated as heat-and-damp patterns invading the eye from the environment, and the classical response combined cooling, damp-clearing herbal washes with attention to the underlying Liver and Lung heat. Trachoma in particular — a chronic infectious inflammation of the conjunctiva — received detailed description in the Chinese texts long before its microbial cause was understood, with external applications and repeated bathing of the eye forming the mainstay of care.

Medicinal remedies for treating the eyes

The materia medica of Chinese ophthalmology drew on plant, animal and mineral ingredients, sourced from natural materials and combined in fixed dosage ratios according to the diagnosed pattern. Some remedies were taken internally to correct an organ imbalance; others were applied directly to the eye as drops, compresses or fumigation vapours.

Herbal ingredients and plants for eye health

Herbs that "nourish the Liver and brighten the eyes" form the backbone of Chinese ophthalmic prescribing. Goji berry (Lycium barbarum), known as Gou Qi Zi, is prized for tonifying Liver and Kidney and is notably rich in zeaxanthin, the same carotenoid the retina uses to protect the macula. Classic formulas built around these principles include Qi ju di huang wan (also written Chi-Ju-Di-Huang-Wan or Qi ju di huang wan), Ming mu di huang wan (the Ming Mu Di Huang decoction), and Shi Hu Ye Guang Wan, each pairing eye-brightening herbs with kidney- and liver-tonifying bases. Modern granule preparations such as the Mingjing granule, Qiming granule and Mimenghua Granules (from Mi Menghua) carry the same tradition into standardised dosing.

Chrysanthemum varieties and their use in ophthalmology

Chrysanthemum (Ju Hua, also transliterated Ju hua) is the single herb most closely associated with eye care in Chinese medicine, used to clear Liver heat and soothe red, tired or inflamed eyes. Practitioners distinguish several types by colour and origin: the yellow-flowered varieties are favoured for dispersing wind-heat and easing acute redness, while the white-flowered chrysanthemums (such as those from Hangzhou) lean toward nourishing Liver yin and calming Liver Yang rising. Chrysanthemum is frequently paired with Goji berries in formulas like Qi ju di huang wan, and is also taken as a simple daily tea for eye strain from prolonged screen use.

Animal ingredients in eye practice

Chinese medicine has long used animal-derived substances for eye disorders, especially for night blindness and stubborn inflammation. For treating gemeralopia (night blindness) practitioners prescribed preparations made from the liver and bile of various animals, together with the droppings of bats and hares.

Other animal materials appear across the ophthalmic pharmacopoeia for their wind-extinguishing and blood-moving actions, including Chan Tui (cicada moulting), Pheretima (earthworm), Scolopendra (centipede) and Scorpio (scorpion), alongside blood-invigorating herbs such as San Qi. The liver-based night-blindness remedies are especially interesting in hindsight, since animal liver is a concentrated source of vitamin A, whose deficiency is the direct cause of the condition.

Chinese eye drops and their composition

Chinese medicine eye drops are formulated as water- or oil-based extracts of the same eye-brightening herbs used internally, delivered directly across the cornea. Because corneal physiology limits how much of any compound penetrates the eye, traditional drops relied on gentle, repeated application and on carrier oils such as Oleum sesami to hold plant actives against the ocular surface. Careful preparation — attention to pH value, sterilisation of vessels, and controlled temperature and storage conditions — governs whether such a liquid is safe to instil into the eye.

Comparison with Western eye drops

Chinese herbal eye drops differ from Western pharmaceutical drops chiefly in that they aim to nourish and rebalance rather than to deliver a single isolated active at a fixed concentration. Western drops target a defined mechanism — lubricating the surface in dry eye, or lowering pressure in glaucoma — with precise dosing and sterility standards. Herbal drops offer a multi-component approach and are often chosen to reduce reliance on long-term pharmaceuticals, but they lack the standardised potency and regulatory testing of manufactured drops. In practice the two are increasingly used side by side, with herbal preparations supporting comfort while conventional drops manage acute risk.

Eye compresses and external applications

External applications — medicated eye patches and warm herbal compresses laid over closed lids — are a distinctive part of Chinese ophthalmic practice, valued for delivering heat-clearing or blood-moving herbs to the eye without systemic dosing. Massage, gentle scraping (gua sha) around the orbit, and warm compresses are combined to relieve congestion, ease dry-eye discomfort and improve local circulation. These external methods are low-risk and remain widely used as adjuncts today.

Aromatherapy and medicinal fumigation

Fumigation directs the warm vapour of a boiling herbal decoction onto the open or closed eye, a method used for dry eye and chronic inflammation. In modern clinics this has been refined into atomisation fumigation, in which the medicinal is nebulised into a fine mist for more even delivery. The approach shares ground with contemporary iontophoresis and electrical therapy for dry eye, both of which aim to drive therapeutic agents into the ocular tissues; the herbal version substitutes heat and volatile plant compounds for an electrical current.

Treatment of corneal opacities (belma)

From very early times China treated corneal opacities — belma — with a method in which a droplet of eel blood mixed with a special mercurial preparation was applied to the eye with a fresh brush. It is worth noting that the use of blood in eye practice appears far later in the West, in Celsus, who wrote of lotions made from the blood of pigeons and swallows. The treatment sits within the classical handling of keratitis and corneal disease, where clearing the "cloud" over the pupil was understood as dispersing accumulated pathogenic heat.

Correcting refractive errors

Methods of correcting refractive errors with optical lenses became known in China considerably earlier than in Europe — a fact that can be regarded as beyond dispute. Alongside the optical approach, TCM understood myopia as a pattern involving Liver blood and Kidney essence deficiency, with a recognised constitutional or genetic tendency, and treated it internally as well as optically.

The use of optical lenses in China

Ground optical glasses were used in China to correct vision generations before comparable aids appeared in European practice, and the historical record on this point is firm. This early adoption of lens correction ran in parallel with the herbal and dietary regimens aimed at strengthening the organ systems held responsible for weak sight, so that a Chinese patient with failing vision might receive both a corrective lens and a course of eye-nourishing medicine.

Treatment of gemeralopia (night blindness)

Chinese medicine commanded fairly effective remedies for gemeralopia, or night blindness, centred on animal liver and bile preparations described above. Recovery of night vision was one of the more reproducible successes of the classical pharmacopoeia — unsurprisingly, given that these liver-based remedies supplied the vitamin A whose absence causes the disorder in the first place.

Diseases of the tear ducts

For diseases of the tear ducts, acupuncture was used in a number of cases, with the needle inserted directly into the region immediately adjacent to the eye. This targeted needling aimed to restore drainage and flow through the local channels and remains an example of how carefully classical practitioners worked around the delicate ocular structures.

Treatment of entropion (inward-turning eyelids)

The methods of treating entropion — the inward turning of the eyelids — are highly distinctive. First the physician turns the lid outward. A small section of the eyelid is then gripped between tightly bound bamboo plates or a special pair of forceps.

These are left in place on the lid until the pinched section turns to a scab and falls away. A small wound forms where it was, healing by secondary intention. The resulting scar draws the lid back into position and cures the entropion.

Cataract treatment

Cataract deserves closer attention, because the Chinese treated it with an original operation developed at the beginning of the medieval period, and the preparation for that operation is described in remarkable detail. The procedure is essentially a form of couching, in which the clouded lens is displaced out of the line of sight using a fine needle.

Needle preparation and instrument treatment

But this "removes the poison only from the upper layers of the needle." For that reason the boiling is repeated the next day, this time in a different preparation. Afterwards the needle is wiped down with various liquids. This staged cleansing and the choice of a soft gold needle reflect a practical grasp of asepsis and of avoiding tissue trauma long before either was formalised.

Preparing the patient for surgery

Before beginning, the physician had to assess the patient's condition — the build, whether robust or weak, whether elderly, whether excessively stout. For people of strong constitution it was recommended that, two or three days before the operation, several doses of a medicine "relaxing the internal air" be given. A fasting diet served the same purpose, calming and preparing the body before the intervention.

The course of the cataract operation

Only after this preparation did surgeons proceed to the cataract removal itself. Working with the softened gold needle, the operator entered the eye at the margin and gently pressed the opacified lens downward and out of the pupillary axis, clearing the visual line. Post-operative rest and continued dietary restraint completed the regimen. This displacement technique — an ancestor of modern couching — allowed some patients to recover functional sight centuries before extracapsular surgery existed.

Carotenoids: lutein and zeaxanthin for eye protection

Lutein and zeaxanthin are the two carotenoids that concentrate in the macula and shield the retina from oxidative and blue-light damage, and their prominence bridges classical Chinese herbalism and modern nutrition science. The Goji berry (Lycium barbarum), a staple of Liver- and Kidney-tonifying eye formulas, is one of the richest dietary sources of zeaxanthin, which helps explain why this berry earned its centuries-old reputation for "brightening the eyes." Dietary therapy in TCM — emphasising goji, chrysanthemum and other carotenoid-bearing foods — thus overlaps directly with the contemporary advice to raise lutein and zeaxanthin intake to slow age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Clinical effectiveness and treatment outcomes

Modern research is now testing traditional Chinese eye remedies with the tools of contemporary clinical science, including double-blind randomised controlled trials, in vitro work and animal models. Studies evaluate outcomes such as best-corrected visual acuity, retinal thickness and the resolution of retinal haemorrhage, alongside safety monitoring and formal adverse-event protocols. Institutions including the Eye Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Shenzhen Futian Hospital and Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, and researchers such as Prof. Peng Qinghua, Lina Liang, Yamin Li and Torkel Snellingen, have contributed to this evidence base.

Neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) illustrates why this matters. Conventional anti-VEGF therapy — repeated intravitreal injection of agents such as ranibizumab — suppresses vascular endothelial growth factor to halt choroidal neovascularisation, but it carries a heavy treatment burden, real injection-related complications, questions of long-term drug resistance, poor patient adherence and considerable economic cost. TCM approaches are studied as complements that may regulate both VEGF and PEDF, ease the systemic pattern behind the disease, and reduce reliance on injections. Comparable investigation covers glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, dry eye, iridocyclitis with secondary glaucoma, and degenerative disorders where damage to the retinal pigment epithelium and Bruch's membrane drives progressive vision loss.

Clinical examples and cases from practice

Real-world reports on TCM ophthalmology span both large centres and individual practitioners, giving a picture of how these treatments perform outside the laboratory. Standardised granules such as the Mingjing granule and Qiming granule have been trialled for diabetic and macular disease; the composition of one such patent formula is documented publicly under Google Patents reference CN1254250C, illustrating the legal patent status, timeline and ingredient methodology behind a modern herbal preparation. In the West, clinicians and organisations including Andy Rosenfarb, Marc Grossman, ACA Acupuncture and the Aurora Eye Research Foundation have reported acupuncture-based programmes for retinitis pigmentosa and macular degeneration, while hospital case series — for example at facilities such as RSUD Serpong Utara — document combined herbal and acupuncture care for chronic eye disease. Quality-of-life gains in elderly patients, rather than acuity alone, are increasingly reported as meaningful outcomes.

Acupuncture for eye diseases

Acupuncture is one of the oldest Chinese treatments for eye disorders, working through the meridians that connect the eyes to the Liver, Kidney and other organs. By needling defined points, practitioners aim to move Qi and blood to the eye, disperse stagnation and calm internal wind. Modern practitioners apply it to chronic and degenerative conditions where conventional options are limited, often within the broader field of complementary care alongside conventional treatment.

Acupuncture points and treatment protocols

Acupuncture protocols for eye disease combine local points around the orbit with distal points on the Liver, Kidney and Gallbladder meridians. Points immediately adjacent to the eye — used with great care because of the delicate structures — target local circulation, while distal points on the limbs address the organ pattern driving the disease. A typical protocol pairs several sessions per week over a course of weeks, adjusting point selection as the syndrome differentiation shifts. Moxibustion, the warming of points with smouldering mugwort, may be added to reinforce yang and move cold or damp stagnation affecting the eyes.

Acupressure for relieving eye complaints

Acupressure applies firm fingertip pressure to the same points acupuncture needles reach, making it a safe self-care technique for eye strain, dryness and fatigue. Gentle sustained pressure on points around the orbit and along the brow, combined with self-massage of the temples and the base of the skull, relieves congestion and tension behind tired eyes. Because it needs no needles, acupressure is well suited to the daily strain of screen-heavy modern life and is often taught to patients as a maintenance routine between clinical sessions.

Effectiveness of acupuncture in chronic eye disease

Acupuncture is most actively studied in chronic and degenerative eye diseases — retinitis pigmentosa, dry eye and macular degeneration — where it is offered to preserve or modestly improve function rather than to cure. Reported outcomes include measured gains in best-corrected visual acuity, improved comfort in dry eye, and better quality of life, though trial quality varies and larger controlled studies are still needed. The consistent picture is that acupuncture works best as part of an integrated programme, combined with herbal formulas, dietary therapy and, where appropriate, conventional care, rather than as a stand-alone replacement for it.

Modern applications of TCM in ophthalmology

Traditional Chinese medicine has moved from purely historical practice to a researched adjunct within modern eye care, integrated with lifestyle guidance and preventive strategy. Its enduring strength is the emphasis on prevention and on treating the whole person: managing screen time, diet, sleep and stress, and correcting organ imbalances before vision fails. For patients facing chronic conditions with burdensome conventional regimens, TCM offers a complementary route that may lift quality of life and reduce pharmaceutical dependence — always best pursued alongside, not instead of, evidence-based ophthalmic care and with realistic expectations about what each approach can achieve.