Press Needle: A Traditional Chinese Medicine Therapy for Myopia Patients with Dry Eye
April 12th, 2024
Here, we present a protocol to standardize the operation of acupuncture in the treatment of myopia with dry eye.
Our research focuses on using traditional Chinese medicine to prevent and treat eye diseases. Specifically, we are developing a standard operation plan for the treatment of myopia and dry eyes. Press needles can improve the stability of tear film, tear secretion, and corneal epithelium injury in patients with dry eyes and is better than sodium hyaluronate eyedrops alone.
It may be related to the regulation of NA-PK, NF-kappa B, Wnt, TLR, PI3K-Akt, and other signaling pathways. We have observed significant improvement in the dry eye symptoms of myopia patients after acupuncture treatment and leading to improved vision in some cases. Begin by inquiring about the patient's name, sex, age, doctor number, height, weight, past medical history, and chief complaint.
To start testing the patient's naked eye visual acuity, position the patient five meters away from the eye chart and cover one side of the eye. Then, ask the patient to identify the E on the eye chart and continue until the E is no longer recognizable. Read the decimal notation on the left side of the eye chart to assess the patient's visual acuity based on the eye chart reading.
Ask patients if they have experienced photophobia, foreign body sensation, eye pain, eye irritation, blurred vision, or vision loss in the last week. Then, score the frequency of symptoms as shown here. After that, calculate the ocular surface disease index or the NSDI score.
If the patient's UCVA score is less than 1.0 and the OSDI score is 13 points or higher, proceed to needle therapy. Ensure the patient's skin is not damaged or ulcerated before needle therapy. Begin by positioning the patient flat on the treatment bed in a supine position and remove glasses to expose the face.
Let the doctor stand on the patient's right side. To locate Zan Zhu or BL 2 on the face, find the depression on the inner edge of the eyebrows. When the patient looks straight up with the pupil in the straight upward position, take the point in the middle of the eyebrows to locate Yuyao or Ex-HN04.
Then, locate Si Bai or ST 2 in the depression of the infraorbital foramen when the eyes are square and the pupil is straight down, To start the acupuncture procedure, spray 75%medical disinfection alcohol two to three times at each acupuncture point. Then, wipe the area with a disposable medical disinfection swab, moving from inside to outside and from top to bottom. Next, inspect the press needle to confirm its shelf life.
Open the package and check if the press needle is complete, undamaged, and not deformed. To perform acupuncture on the BL 2 acupoint, fix the skin with the left thumb and index finger. Then, pick up the needle tape with tweezers in the right hand, maintaining needle sterility.
Aim the needle tip at the acupuncture point and enter the skin at a 45 degree angle. Then, fully press the needle tip into the skin and secure the tape with the left hand. Now, gently press the needle three times and ask the patient if they feel any sourness, numbness, swelling, pain, or other irritations.
If there is any sensation, leave the needle. If there is no sensation, adjust the needle's direction until a sensation is felt and then leave the needle. To remove the needle, stabilize the skin with the left thumb and index finger.
With tweezers in the right hand, pick up the needle tape and remove the needle perpendicular to the skin. After removal, press the needle hole with a sterile cotton swab and disinfect the area locally with an alcohol swab. Once the needle is removed, keep the patient in the treatment room for 30 minutes before leaving.
After one course, assess naked eye vision against the UCVA chart and dry eye score improvement before starting the next treatment. After treatment, the OSDI score of patients was significantly lower than that of patient's before treatment and the difference was statistically significant. The UCVA score of the left eye decreased significantly after the treatment.
However, there was no significant difference in the right eye UCVA score before and after treatment.
Overview
This study presents a protocol for standardizing acupuncture treatment for myopia with dry eye. The research highlights the effectiveness of acupuncture in improving dry eye symptoms and vision.
Key Study Components
Area of Science
- Traditional Chinese Medicine
- Ophthalmology
- Acupuncture
Background
- Myopia and dry eye are common eye conditions.
- Traditional Chinese medicine offers alternative treatment options.
- Acupuncture may enhance tear film stability and secretion.
- Previous treatments have included sodium hyaluronate eyedrops.
Purpose of Study
- To develop a standardized operation plan for acupuncture.
- To evaluate the effectiveness of acupuncture on dry eye symptoms.
- To explore the underlying biological mechanisms involved.
Methods Used
- Patient assessment including demographics and medical history.
- Application of acupuncture techniques for treatment.
- Monitoring of tear film stability and corneal health.
- Analysis of signaling pathways related to treatment outcomes.
Main Results
- Acupuncture significantly improved dry eye symptoms in myopia patients.
- Patients experienced enhanced tear secretion and corneal epithelium recovery.
- Acupuncture showed better results compared to sodium hyaluronate alone.
- Improvements may be linked to various signaling pathways.
Conclusions
- Standardized acupuncture can be an effective treatment for myopia with dry eye.
- Further research is needed to fully understand the mechanisms involved.
- Acupuncture may serve as a viable alternative to conventional treatments.
Frequently Asked Questions
Executive Industry Relevance
Standardized press needle therapy offers a reproducible intervention for myopia patients with dry eye, addressing a significant unmet need in ophthalmic symptom management. Quantitative assessment of uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA) and ocular surface disease index (OSDI) enables objective evaluation of therapeutic impact, supporting data-driven decision-making in early-stage translational research. This protocol provides a foundation for integrating traditional modalities into evidence-based discovery pipelines.
Strategic Applications in Biopharma R&D
Early Discovery & Target Validation
- Enables systematic interrogation of therapeutic hypotheses for ocular surface modulation.
- Supports biological de-risking by quantifying changes in tear film stability and corneal health.
- Facilitates functional target validation through standardized symptom and vision metrics.
- Provides objective endpoints for portfolio triage in ophthalmic research.
Screening & Assay Development
- Establishes validated clinical endpoints (UCVA, OSDI) for downstream screening workflows.
- Promotes reproducibility and standardization in patient assessment and intervention delivery.
- Enables quantitative comparison of traditional and conventional therapies in controlled settings.
- Supports reliable evaluation of candidate interventions for dry eye and myopia.
Translational & Preclinical Research
- Aligns clinical symptom scoring with translational biomarker development for ocular surface disease.
- Provides continuity from discovery-stage hypothesis testing to preclinical validation of efficacy.
- Enables risk-adjusted advancement decisions based on statistically significant outcome measures.
- Supports mechanistic exploration of signaling pathways implicated in therapeutic response.
Pipeline & Workflow Integration
This protocol positions press needle therapy within the early discovery to preclinical continuum for ophthalmic indications, leveraging standardized clinical metrics for hypothesis testing and mechanistic de-risking.
- Discovery Biology: Facilitates hypothesis-driven evaluation of acupoint modulation on ocular surface health.
- Screening: Provides reproducible, quantitative endpoints for intervention assessment.
- Analytics: Delivers measurable outputs (UCVA, OSDI) for statistical comparison across cohorts.
- Translational Research: Bridges clinical symptom improvement with mechanistic pathway analysis.
- Enterprise Reuse: Offers a standardized, scalable protocol adaptable to diverse ophthalmic research settings.
Operational & Enterprise Impact
- Scientific Value: Enhances predictive confidence and reduces mechanistic ambiguity in ocular surface research.
- Operational Value: Drives standardization, reproducibility, and scalability in clinical assessment and intervention.
- Strategic Value: Informs go/no-go decisions and optimizes resource allocation in early-stage portfolios.
- Portfolio Impact: Supports risk-adjusted prioritization and advancement of ophthalmic therapeutic candidates.
Implementation Considerations
- Requires clinical expertise in acupoint identification and needle application.
- Demands access to validated visual acuity charts and OSDI scoring tools.
- Necessitates cross-team standardization of patient assessment and data collection.
- Adaptable to various patient populations with dry eye and myopia, pending further validation.
- Dependent on rigorous statistical analysis to confirm significance of observed outcomes.
