Researchers in the Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital Dresden, Germany looking at acupuncture and glaucoma, have found that blood flow to the eyes can be improved by giving acupuncture to patients with primary open-angle glaucoma. Disturbances in ocular blood flow have been coming under scrutiny as a cause of visual field damage in glaucoma patients.
In the randomised study, 56 patients aged 32 to 69, were assigned to receive either a single acupuncture treatment using acupuncture points traditionally used to benefit eye health, or to a single treatment using points which are not specific to eye health. Ocular blood flow parameters were measured before treatment, and again ten minutes afterwards. Pulsatile ocular blood flow was seen to increase significantly after only the eye-specific acupuncture treatment.
(The short-term effect of acupuncture on different ocular blood flow parameters in patients with primary open-angle glaucoma: a randomized, clinical study. Clinical Ophthalmology, 19 July 2018.)