Eye Acupuncture

The 八卦 Bā Guà – 8 Trigrams dividing (in this case left) the eye regions:

☰乾 Qián "Do it" ☵ 坎 Kǎn "Water trigram"

天 Tiān "Heaven" 水 Shuǐ "Water"
LU–LI KI–BL

☱ 兑 Duì "Cash" ☶ 艮 Gèn "Root"

泽 Zé"Lake/Marsh" 山 Shān "Mountain"
Xia/Lower Jiao Shan/Upper Jiao

MEDIAL LATERAL

☷ 坤 Kūn "Female" ☳ 震 Zhèn "Shake"

地 Dì "Earth" 雷 Léi "Thunder
SP–ST LR–GB

☲離 Lí "From" ☴ 巽 Xùn "Wind trigram"

火 Huǒ "Fire" 風 Fēng "Wind"
HT–SI Zhong/Middle Jiao
Left Eye:

Corresponding organs division in the right and left eyes:

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0. Normal eyes: the vessels of the eyeball conjunctiva are indistinct and barely visible.

Diseases: dissented shape and color to determine sight, nature, cause, course, effect and prognoses of the disease.

1. Thick vessels with large root (vessels of the border of

the white of the eye appear thick and large and become
thinner as it goes on): often indicates chronic and
persistent illness.

2. Cirsoid vessel – the vessel is full of twist and turns: reveals disease in serious condition.

3. Stretched vessel – a vessel in one part is distrides the

next part: which meridians the disorder comes from and
what meridians it spreads over.

4. Branching vessels – occurs more in the upper part of the eye: patient condition is unstable and variable.
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5. Projection vessels – the vessels remarkably stands out,
as if it is on a glass plate: it often indicates the disorder of
the 6 FU organs.

6. A hazy scene – the vessels is blurred, often in the liver-gallbladder part: suggests a case of Qi stasis with liver
depression.

7. Dropping dew – appears like a dew drop is hanging

down at the end of a vessel: if it is in the intestine or
stomach part, it often indicates a case of enterostosis, in
other parts it indicates melanochalium.

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Eye colors:

1. Bright red: confirms a new disease is in progress and it

is an excessive heat syndrome.

2. Deep red: indicates vibral disease and it is a serious case.

3. Dark red – a deep red with darkish spots marks an

interior transmission of a vibral disease.

4. Yellowish red: a case that is becoming miled.

5. Pale: causes by deficiency of Qi and Blood a case of

deficient or cold syndrome.

6. Dark Gray: indicates of the presence of an old disease, the symptoms are gone but the marks on the vessels will
remain forever.

Use of needles is important since there are many blood

vessels around the eyes. Hammering will occur if
inappropriate needling technique is used. Best needles are
thin and short needles, stainless steel, 15 mm length and
0.34 mm in diameter.

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Insertion: one hand acting as the pressing hand and the
other acts as the needling hand. Hold the needle with the
thumb and the index finger. Insertion motion must be quick
but also steady and precise. A swift insertion causes less
pain. The depth of the insertion is about 10 mm.

After insertion, if the patient has a feeling of "te Qi", no

further manipulations of the needle should be done like
lifting, thrusting or twirling. If there is no needling
sensation, lift the needle about ⅓ of the inserted part,
change the direction of the pointing ends and insert it again.
For the purpose of stimulation of the Qi, one can scrape the
needle handle gently.

Commonly used techniques

1. Tapping: with the patient eyes closed, the doctor uses

one hand to cover the patient’s eye lid and the other to
lightly tap the end of the needle and tap it 5 to 7 times at
the selected point. And the tapping should also be gentle so
not to cause bleeding.

2. Transverse puncturing: after puncturing into the skin,

insert the needle horizontally into the subcutaneous tissue.
Do not go any deeper.

3. Double puncturing: After inserting one needle,

insert another one beside it and in the same direction,
so as to strengthen the effect.

4. Co-puncturing: in the same point area insert one needle

into the intra orbital and the other in the lateral orbital. In
this way a better result might be obtained.

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5. Intra orbital puncturing: locate precise the orbital
margin and insert the needle perpendicularly with the end
of the needle toward the orbit.

6. Contra lateral puncturing. When the disease does not

respond to the treatment, try the same eye part on the
healthy side.

7. Intra orbital implantation: for patients who consistently

does not respond to treatment, an intra dermal needle on the
relevant point around the eye maybe embedded for 1 to 2
days immobilized with a piece of plaster

8. Electrical acupuncture. After the insertion, an electrical

stimulation may be connected to the handle of the needle,
but with very low current.

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9. Point pressing. Use a match stick or the handle of a three edge needle to press the eye point for treatment for
about 10 to 20 seconds.

10. Combination method. Eye acupuncture can be used

alone or may be combined with other acupuncture
technique or medicine.

Duration of needle retaining:

Withdrawal of the needle

1. Hold the needle with the 2 fingers of the right hand

2. Move the handle several times before withdrawing it halfway
3. Hold the withdrawal for a few seconds and withdraw the rest of the inserted needle gently
4. Swiftly press the punctured site with a dry cotton ball as to prevent bleeding. If bleeding does occur the
pressing time should be longer than usual. If there is subcutaneous blood stasis the next day, hot compress
should be used. Generally speaking it will be disappear in 3 days.

Contra indication

For those who tend to be trembling, restless or whose

eyelid is thicker than average, eye acupuncture should
not be applied.

Principle of point selection

1. Selection of the corresponding meridian points.

Also called point selection according to syndrome
differentiation, e.g. disorders pertaining to a given
meridian or viscera or points around the eye that are
needled. E.g for lumbago to the kidney deficiency, the
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second part belonging to the kidney and bladder are to be selected.

2. Selection based on eyes inspection. Select the part

where there is the most notable change of the eyeball, no
matter where the disease corresponds.

3. Selection according to the diseased part.

If the diseased part is located above the diaphragm, the

shang jiao (upper warmer) part should be selected:

If the disease part is found between diaphragm and the

loin, the zhong jiao part should be selected:

If the diseased part is below the loin, lower jiao should be

selected:

Etc, etc…

Treatment of commonly encountered diseases with eye acupuncture:

 hemiplegia due to apoplexy  hypertension

 acute lumbar sprain  toothache
 cholelithiasis  gastralgia
 peri arthritis of shoulder  etc, etc…
 stiff neck

Source: ZhongGuoZhenQiuology, VCD part 23: Eye Acupuncture Therapy by 山裁援 Shan, Peng Jing, professor
of Liaoning College of TCM.
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