Share this article Print Article September 2007

IN OTHER NEWS

Making a point
By Enette Ngoei EyeWorld Staff Writer A new study on the efficacy of acupuncture is under way, and EyeWorld speaks with the acupuncturist involved.

This 56- year-old male patient undergoing local electro-acupuncture for colorblindness and legal blindness in both eyes has experienced improvement in both field of vision and visual acuity. Credit: Mr. Andy Rosenfarb

A 78-year-old female patient diagnosed with dry ARMD receiving micro-acupuncture for her condition. She has reported significant improvement evidenced by the field of vision test, Amsler grid testing, and visual acuity (near and far). Credit: Mr. Andy Rosenfarb

Acupuncturist Andy Rosenfarb, 35, is trying to get the

scientific communitys validation of acupuncture by playing a part in the first peer-reviewed study on the efficacy of the ancient Chinese practice on lowering intraocular pressure (IOP) in glaucoma patients. The prospective study is still in its very early stages and is being conducted in conjunction with Robert Ritch, M.D., professor and chief of glaucoma services, New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, N.Y. Upon completion, the research will be

presented at the World Congress for Eye Research in Beijing, China in 2008. Mr. Rosenfarb, of Acupuncture Health Associates, Westfield, N.J., said, The NIH [National Institutes of Health] and the World Health Organization discussed that acupuncture is effective and they made a ruling in 1997; but its still different from the scientific communityif its not peer reviewed, its not hard evidence. He said the research is aimed at not only letting eye doctors become aware of the value of acupuncture in glaucoma patients and possibly utilize it but also at creating public awareness of circumstances where glaucoma patients have adverse reactions to medications and have an alternative option. At present, Mr. Rosenfarb and Dr. Ritchs research team are just establishing protocols. [Were] figuring out which points were going to use to get the best results, he said. Theres got to be 5000 studies out of China, all with different acupuncture points, all with early stage open angle glaucoma, [and] 40 to 50 different acupuncture points. Mr. Rosenfarb will help in designing the protocols in the study, perform the acupuncture in some cases and help explain the mechanism behind the acupuncture. How it began The collaboration with Dr. Ritch on the study was born out of publicity generated by word of mouth after Mr. Rosenfarbs first book, Acupuncture, Acupressure & Chinese Herbs, was published in July. The book talks about acupuncture and its effectiveness for the eyes, the principles of Chinese medicine in terms of its holistic approach and goes on to list the different types of Chinese medicine that can benefit the eyes. For example, Qigong for the eyes involves the coordination of breathing patterns with certain body movements, essential oils that can help improve circulation to the eyes, nutritional supplements and herbs. Mr. Rosenfarb said the book is definitely not exhaustive and explains its key point: The big thing is [acupuncture] not a protocol and its not for everybody. Its not going to help everybody all the time. He said its an alternative for somebody whos more holistically minded and having problems with or not getting the desired results from Western medicine. That doesnt necessarily mean its going to work; its just worth pursuing, Mr. Rosenfarb said. Interested parties inevitably find him because, Nobody really does what I do, he said. Nobody that I know has more hands-on experience than I do. I see hundreds [of eye patients] a week, Mr. Rosenfarb said. He explains how acupuncture works: There are these little points around the body that are like light switches, so each acupuncture point is like switching on a different light in your houseit can stimulate or regulate a different area of the body. With regard to the eyes, he said, there can be 20

or 30 different points, local (around the eye) or distal (hands, feet, arms, legs, back of the legs) that can affect the eye. Based on the pattern or based on the symptoms and the whole understanding of the persons condition the acupuncturist will select a few of these points to get the circulation going to the eyes and address any other stressed in other areas of the body, Mr. Rosenfarb said. For example, with circulation issues, you want to regulate the heart and cardiovascular areas, he said. If theres an infection like Lyme disease going on in the body thats causing eye issues, you want to use acupuncture to stimulate the white blood cells and get the immune system going. So there can be a combination of both, of local points and distal points and the reason you would choose those is based on the specific needs of the patient according to the diagnosis by the practitioner, Mr. Rosenfarb said. Success stories Having practiced acupuncture since 1998, Mr. Rosenfarb has seen his fair share of successful patients. For instance, a woman who went to see him with wet macular degeneration diagnosed in one eye, had significant improvement in vision after being treated by Mr. Rosenfarb. Making sure she had gone to an ophthalmologist before he treated her, and that the bleeding had stopped, Mr. Rosenfarb said he performed about 30 acupuncture treatments and followed up with visual field, patient feedback and the Amsler grid eye test. The patient improved on all levels. When we finally got to the visual acuity [test] she improved 7 lines in two weeks, which was insane. Most of my patients will improve between 2 to 5 lines but she could read so much better, she didnt have the blurriness, it cleared up, Mr. Rosenfarb said, admitting that this patients improvement was an anomaly. He offered the example of another patient who had come from India and was not allowed to fly back because of his high IOP. After about a week and a half of treatment, the mans IOP had dropped from 30 to 18 and after checking with an ophthalmologist, the man was able to get on a plane back to India. An Integrated Practice Mr. Rosenfarb is eager to stress that he ensures his patients see an ophthalmologist before he begins treating them. Every patient I see, if they havent gone to an ophthalmologist, I make sure that they go to an ophthalmologist. The best case scenario is to really integrate therapy, he said. Western medicine has its shortcomings in treating diseases like macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa because they arent well understood, Mr. Rosenfarb said. Therefore, he said, its important to integrate the two. He explained that in China and many places in Europe, a patient can see an optometrist or ophthalmologist, have their eye pressure checked and if its really high they are

going to go get medication. If its borderline, they have the option to go to somebody who does herbal medicine or does acupuncture. His goal, he said, is in 10 years to have an integrative eye care center with optometrists, ophthalmologists, people doing acupuncture and have it also be somewhat of a research center so people can get both. For now, Mr. Rosenfarb will have to wait to see if the results of his research collaboration will convince the scientific community of acupuntures place in healing. Contact information: Rosenfarb: (908) 928-0060; acupunkk@aol.com