To treat cataracts, taking medicine alone is not enough. Only by treating the symptoms with a combination of 3 kinds of therapies can the curative effect be obtained

Chief Physician of Chuanhong, Eye Hospital of China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences

Nowadays, besides books and classrooms, most of the channels for people to obtain popular science knowledge come from the Internet. But the Internet is a hodgepodge, with all kinds of content, and those who have been certified by the authority are certainly credible, but the dissemination of certain content may not be accurate, and may even mislead people. Many informal websites always spread unreliable remarks, such as certain medicines can cure certain diseases, or more serious fallacies, such as "don't listen to the doctor, this can cure XX disease" and so on. Of course, the network monitoring department is gradually clearing up these spam messages, but there are still "edge balls". This kind of fringing can’t be said to be completely deceiving, it can only be said to be “sensitization” and excessive exaggeration of certain content. What we are going to talk about today is the fact that “cataracts can be cured by taking medicine without surgery at all”.

As we all know, cataracts are prone to occur in the elderly. If cataracts occur simply because of aging, we call them senile cataracts. Of course, there are other types of cataracts, such as metabolic, traumatic, congenital and so on. In short, cataracts caused by different reasons have different names, treatment methods, and pathological conditions. So, can the treatment of cataract be cured by taking medicine and applying medicine?

Since there are many types of cataract, each patient's disease stage and specific conditions are different, so there is no "generalization" treatment method. At present, the clinical treatment of cataract is mainly based on the comprehensive three major schemes, whichever is more suitable for the patient is the best.

The first option: drug therapy

In fact, drugs can treat cataracts, but it should be judged according to the patient's condition whether the drug is an adjuvant treatment or the main treatment method. For patients with early mild cataract, with mild lens opacity, no systemic underlying disease, and no other complications, using eye drops (Bai Nei Ting, She Zhu Ming Mu, etc.) can obtain a more ideal curative effect. If the patient has deficiency of liver and kidney, deficiency of both spleen and stomach, and deficiency of spleen and kidney yang, it is necessary to take Chinese medicine conditioning at the same time.

If the cataract is caused by a systemic disease such as diabetic retinopathy, the underlying condition must be controlled first, and then the drug should be selected according to the degree of cataract. If drug treatment is not effective, surgery should be performed. It must be explained that the effect of drug treatment is different for each patient. Some people may have good results, while others have no effect. Moreover, drug treatment can only achieve ideal results in the early stage of cataract, and severe crystal opacity cannot be reversed by drugs. of.

The second option: surgical treatment

Surgical treatment of cataract is an effective method commonly used in clinical practice, including intracapsular/extracapsular cataract extraction, phacoemulsification, femtosecond laser-assisted phacoemulsification, and intraocular lens implantation. Intracapsular extirpation is rarely used clinically due to many complications; the applicability of the elderly with large extracapsular wounds is low; phacoemulsification has a wide range of applications and is the main treatment method considered clinically.

However, surgical treatment of cataract also depends on the patient's condition, and not everyone is suitable for it. If the patient has underlying diseases and overlaps with surgical contraindications, surgical treatment cannot be used. If the cataract is serious, in the overmature stage or even causes complications such as glaucoma, it is very likely that surgical treatment will not be able to reverse the visual function defect. Therefore, the earlier the cataract treatment should be, the better.

The third plan: diet and health care

Dietary health care cannot be said to be a treatment method in the strict sense, it is in an auxiliary role. After all, dietary nutrition can't reverse lens clouding, but a lack of nutrition can certainly be detrimental to eye health. Therefore, the purpose of dietary health care for cataract is mainly to supplement beneficial elements, get rid of harmful habits and harmful diet, promote the therapeutic effect, and improve the patient's physical fitness. The specific method is only two steps:

One is to quit smoking, alcohol, spicy, high sugar, high salt, high fat, high oil, high calorie food, and avoid increased blood sugar, blood pressure, and blood lipids. In particular, diabetic patients must strictly control their eating habits and avoid all things that affect the body and blood sugar.

The second is to increase the nutritional elements that are beneficial to the eyes, such as foods rich in vitamin A, β-carotene, and lutein, mainly vegetables and fruits. When necessary, regular nutritional supplements such as cod liver oil can also be properly supplemented to slow down the aging rate of crystals and reduce the incidence of cataracts.