In Australia more than 450,000 people are living with vision impairment or blindness (1) . About 1 in 7 Australians over the age of 50 have some evidence of macular degeneration (2) and, if you have diabetes there is a risk of diabetic retinopathy which increases the longer you have the disease. Of the 1.2 million Australians that have diagnosed (known) diabetes there is an estimated 500,000 with undiagnosed diabetes. Of these, over 300,000 (between 25-35%) have some degree of diabetic retinopathy and about 65,000 have progressed to sight-threatening eye disease. (3)
All these numbers are projected to increase. It is likely that you or someone you know will be affected by a degenerative eye disease. Research conducted in China and Denmark has shown that acupuncture may be a viable treatment that provides relief from these conditions.
About Vision Acupuncture Treatments.
Heidi Dunn from ben&biao has completed additional and specialist training in vision acupuncture and integrative vision.
Postgraduate studies include:
- Dr Rosenfarb’s Acuvision’s Ophthalmic Acupuncture protocols. (4)
- Dr Marc Grossman’s integrative approach to vision care (5)
- Incorporating Acunova protocols for vision (6)
For the thousands of patients with eye diseases who have received this form of acupuncture and integrative care treatment, many, depending on the type of eye disease, respond to treatment.
What is involved?
Our 10 day intensive program incorporates
- Acupuncture
- Herbal Supplementation
- Transformational meditation
- Qi Gong
- Eye exercises
Acupuncture
Acupuncture for vision is an intensive treatment and you will come in initially for a consultation to determine if the vision protocol treatment is right for you. During consultation, the details of the procedure will be explained.
The evidence for acupuncture
An increase in the blood flow to the eyes, decrease in oxidative stress plus neurological stimulation when the appropriate acupuncture points are used. Please contact us for details of studies where acupuncture has been successfully used if needed.
Internal supplementation
Most eye conditions have oxidative stress and cellular degeneration. As part of the health picture, patients may improve vision parameters with supplementation of certain vitamins and / or Chinese medicinal herbal formulas. The formulae used are individualised but are based on treatment protocols that have been used successfully used.
Lifestyle advice
Diet, sleep and exercise play an important role in minimising vision degeneration and these are discussed and advice given based on current evidence, during the consultations.
Testing
Prior to commencement of treatment, we suggest you visit your eye doctor just for a baseline evaluation. Testing should be repeated a week after the course of treatments has completed. Our patients also find eyesight continues to improve for several weeks after the treatment and then stabilise.
Want to know more ? See some of our case studies
If you would like to know more book an initial consultation with Heidi Dunn click here
Acupuncture for vision research
- https://www.health.gov.au/health-topics/eye-health
- https://www.mdfoundation.com.au/content/what-is-macular-degeneration
- https://www.mdfoundation.com.au/content/diabetic-retinopathy-about
- Dr Andy Rosenfarb (USA), internationally recognised author, researcher and authority on Chinese Medical Ophthalmology and Integrative Vision Care. He has completed several studies on retinosa pigmentosa, macular degeneration
- Dr Grossman (USA) is an authority on natural eye care and Chinese medical Opthalmology. He is co-founder of ‘NaturalEyeCare.com which was set up in 1999, He is an international lecturer, Author of multiple books including the recent ‘Natural Eye care, your guide to Healthy eyes and healing’ published in 2019.
- Acunova is a style of acupuncture used by J Boel and widely used in Denmark for the treatment of vision disorders see boel-akupunktur.com/en/eye-diseases/ for more details.