Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies
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Focus Alternat Complement Ther©2005 Pharmaceutical Press
Focus Altern Complement Ther 2003; 8: 154–5
The inflammation of the uvea has many aetiological causes; in most patients it is idiopathic. The patients suffer from pain and blurred vision, and the complaints often recur periodically. Untreated complications lead to blindness, and the treatment is difficult and protracted. There has been an influence of acupuncture on general inflammations in earlier studies. Our aim was to determine whether we are able to influence the signs of that disease.
Five patients, with recurrent complaints for more than one year, were treated with acupuncture. The goal of the study was the subjective outcome, the pain sensation by a visual analogue scale (VAS-10 parts), the clinical facts, such as visual acuity, and the flare within the anterior chamber, which was measured by a laser flare cell meter. A slit lamp examination of the bulbus was performed. The time was observed when the next attack of uveitis occurred.
All patients described a decrease of pain. The score in the VAS increased. The flare lowered and in the slit-lamp examination the inflammation was diminished. The period to the next attack was extended by more than 6 months.
The clinical outcome of this observation answered the question of whether acupuncture is able to influence uveitis. Future projects have to analyse the inflammatory reaction.
