Maintaining
Healthy Vision
Naturally
 By Dr. Marc Grossman, OD, Lac
The training of our eye doctors in this country is very comprehensive. There have been major advances in the treatment of eye disease and even laser surgery is available today to correct nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism. But it doesn’t really correct the underlying problem of why it is there to begin with. Eye care in this country is symptom-oriented. In our training as eye doctors we’re taught that once something goes wrong with your eyes there is not much that can be done to help reverse the condition. Vision problems are multiplying at epidemic proportions in our society. The eye care industry is a multi-billion dollar business. Glasses, contact lenses, and eye surgery are the major tools of that industry and these enter the lives of virtually all of the citizens of the Western world. Aldous Huxley wrote in his book The Art of Seeing that “if everyone who had deficient vision had broken legs, the streets would be full of cripples.”
Patients come in year after year, their eyesight getting worse. Conventional eye care professionals just give them stronger and stronger glasses. Something is wrong with this picture. Cataracts are present to some degree in nearly all adults over the age of 70 years old. These patients are told, “Let’s wait until the cataract ‘ripens’ (a euphemism for ‘gets worse’), and then we can remove it surgically.” Patients with macular degeneration and glaucoma are told, “We’ll watch it and try to keep it under control.” The number of children in our schools being labeled learning disabled and/or having Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) is increasing every year. Where is the much needed prevention, education and rehabilitation?
People think that eye problems are just a natural course of life’s process, but people’s vision can improve. When people are given so called “corrective” lenses they are being sold a false bill of health. “Corrective” lenses don’t really correct anything. Most of the time when people get their glasses it usually causes more dependency on them along with the eyes losing some of their natural flexibility. I’m interested in an aggressive prevention program so that many eye conditions can be prevented and corrected.
So what’s wrong with the conventional treatment for certain eye conditions? Let’s look at nearsightedness and glaucoma.
If you need glasses, the eye doctor will prescribe them and you will thank them then pay them for the eye examination and glasses. In a couple of years (or sooner) the prescription may not be good enough for you to see clearly so you will come back get another examination and probably get stronger glasses and thank them and pay them again.
If you have glaucoma, a similar thing happens. You come to the office and you may get eye drops to help stabilize the pressure and are told that you will probably be on these eye drops the rest of your life. Where are the prevention, and rehabilitation?
We have to look at vision the same way that Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) looks at disease: Looking not at whether X causes Y, but what the relationship is between X and Y. The eye is an extension of brain tissue and it reflects what you are thinking and feeling. The eyes help us adapt to the world and they give us an indication of how we are doing with that task. It is the primary way in which we take in information.
For instance, nearsightedness doesn’t just happen. Did you know that 90% of accountants are nearsighted, but less than 10% of farmers are? That’s because accountants spend a lot of time focused on up close tasks and farmers are usually looking out across the fields. The brain says “if you make me do close work all day, you will have to give up something” and that something is the ability to see at a distance, so obviously how we use and abuse our eyes affects what happens to them. This concept is not usually taken into consideration by most eye doctors. In nearsightedness, I use the analogy of training for a marathon. If you are going to graduate from law school, medical school, etc. and there is an extremely large amount of reading that needs to be done, you’ll need to keep your eye muscles flexible in order to handle the amount of close work more easily. Proper posture, lighting, taking vision and body breaks, and proper nutrition all play a part in helping our eyes.
In the case of glaucoma let’s say you are 55 years old and you have borderline high intraocular pressure which is a possible early sign of glaucoma. The doctor will test your visual field to make sure your peripheral vision is not affected. If your visual field and optic nerve looks normal and the pressure is borderline, the doctor will usually just say “come back in 3 to 6 months and we will watch it and if it gets too high we will give you medication.” Again, very rarely is there anything given preventively to help lower the pressure.
But many things can help, such as paying attention to the following:
Stress. As far back as 1818, researchers linked stress to glaucoma. One study showed that glaucoma patients tend to be perfectionists, nervous, anxiety ridden and/or hypersensitive. In TCM glaucoma is linked to the liver meridian. The emotion associated with this area is anger/frustration. I may suggest to a patient with glaucoma that instead of suppressing anger, he or she should feel it, but don’t fear it. I suggest meditation, tai chi and psychotherapy, as well as remembering to smile.
Smoking. Avoid smoking as it more than doubles the incidence of cataracts, glaucoma, and macular degeneration, by stressing the nerve cells in the macula and reducing the quality of blood circulation.
Physical Exercise. Research has shown that glaucoma patients who take a brisk 40 minute walk 5 days a week for three months can reduce their eye pressure by approximately 2.5 mm.
Diet. Maximize your intake of fruits and vegetables. Drink 8 – 10 glasses of pure water per day 30 minutes before a meal or 2 hours after eating, but try not to drink water while you eat. Avoid sugars, fried foods, alcohol, and caffeine.
Nutritional supplementation.
When taken daily, the following nutritional supplements may be helpful in maintaining healthy eyesight:
 Alpha lipoic acid: 200mg
Vitamin C: 3000 mg
Coenzyme Q10: 100mg
Omega 3 essential fatty acids (EFAs): 500 – 1500 mg
Bodywork. Various bodywork therapies can have a relaxing, rejuvenating and restorative effect on the systems of the body that are tied to healthy vision. Consider chiropractic, massage, or cranial-sacral therapies.
My philosophy is that people are more than an interesting set of symptoms that must be treated with the proper drug or glasses. We function on several levels: Emotional, spiritual, and physical. It is important to take all of these levels into consideration when treating a patient, because merely treating the physical symptoms of the condition does not address how that condition impacts and emerges from all of those levels of being. As with all other areas of the body, in treating the eyes, all these factors must be taken into consideration.
Let’s start with nutrition, because more than 25% of the nutrients we absorb from our food go to nourish the visual system. The diet plan I prescribe emphasizes a variety of whole foods, because the body does not use each vitamin or mineral in isolation.
The diet I recommend includes the following:
Whole grains including brown rice, millet, spelt and buckwheat
Sea vegetables such as dulse, nori and hijiki because they are high in minerals
Fresh fruits and vegetables such as kale, collard greens and spinach. These greens are especially good for the eyes since they have considerable amounts of lutein, which is a carotenoid that studies have proven helps protect the macula and lens of the eye. This is particularly important for macular degeneration.
Keep in mind that no matter how wholesome and pure our food might be, there are factors that affect its nutrient content: How it is grown, how it is stored, and how it is cooked. Your age, health, activity level and stress can also affect what your body needs and how well it uses the nutrients from your food.
This is where supplements come in. I routinely recommend vitamin and mineral supplements to my patients.
Besides relieving pain, acupressure can rebalance qi (“vital energy” or “life force energy”) throughout the body. I’ve found acupressure to be very beneficial in the treatment of eye disease and I recommend it because, once properly instructed, a patient can self-administer it.
Exercise for both the eyes and the body in general is extremely important in the treatment and prevention of eye conditions as it raises oxygen levels in the cells and increases lymph and blood circulation. From a TCM standpoint, eye problems mean there is stagnant energy and exercise helps get rid of the stagnation. This increased circulation revitalizes the organs and glands and speeds up detoxification of the body. I recommend that you gently build up to aerobic exercise for a minimum of 20 minutes per day, four days a week.
The following are some other important tips to keep our eyes vibrant and alive:
Don’t keep your eyes focused in one place for a sustained period of time. Change your focus, look up and out a window if possible. Keep your eyes moving as sustained contraction of the eyes leads to contraction of the entire upper body. And don’t stare – that also causes tension in the visual system.
Get at least 20 minutes of natural sunlight a day. The eyes are light sensing organs; it is important to get sunlight so that they can work optimally.
Quit smoking! This is probably the number one eye irritant. Smokers have a 50 to 100% increased risk for every eye disease.
Avoid sugar. It depletes the body of the nutrients the eyes need. Avoid alcohol as well, as it causes stress to the liver, which is where eye-supporting vitamin A is processed.
For more information on how to keep your eye healthy contact us at http://www.naturaleyecare.com or 1-888-735-8475.
Dr. Grossman is one of the leading holistic eye doctors. He has been in practice for over 27 years, and is the author of a number of books on natural eye care including: Co-author of Magic Eye – A 3D Guide (Andrews and McMeel, 1995), Natural Vision Care – An Encyclopedia (Keats Publishing) printed in April, 1999, Greater Vision (McGraw Hill) printed in September, 2000, and Natural Eye Care: A Comprehensive Manual for Practitioners of Oriental Medicine, which is a 230-page manual describing both the Western and Eastern approaches to preserving eyesight for over 20 specific eye conditions. His newest book was just released in June, 2004 and is entitled Beyond 3D: Improve Your Vision with Magic Eye, Magic Eye Inc.
Dr. Grossman lectures nationally on topics such as Natural Vision Improvement, Vision and Nutrition, Psycho-Emotional Aspects of Visual Conditions, Vision & Learning, Holistic Integrative Visual Therapy, and Chinese Medicine and Vision Care.  06
Vision Works, Inc.
3 Paradise Lane
New Paltz, N.Y. 12561
(888) 735-8475 / 845) 255-8222
www.naturaleyecare.com
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