Microacupuncture: Thought I'd Seen It All
"Check this out!"
Charlotte, a feisty 85 year-old neighbor, handed me a clipping from the local senior citizens' toss-away newspaper. Now I know why they call them toss-aways!
The headline read: Microacupuncture Effective for Macular Degeneration. There it was in large bold letters. I was stunned. Microacupuncture? How come I never read anything about it in the eye journals?
Apparently some enterprising alternative healer from Denmark claims to reverse the irreversible damage caused by advanced macular degeneration and other serious eye problems. Specially trained disciples, microacupuncturists, are now spreading the word. Be careful. Be skeptical.
True, traditional acupuncture has been shown to offer relief for many different kinds of health and behavioral problems. It has withstood the critical scrutiny of diligent scientific research. Most experts believe acupuncture stimulates release of powerful neurotransmitters to exert its effect. That is to say, acupuncture works best with neurologic disorders. The tissue changes that occur with Age Related Macular Degeneration involve abnormal blood vessels, bleeding, inflammation and scarring. There is no needlestick to the hand that can make that go away.
What is most worrisome are the anecdotal claims. One promise is that microacupuncture will correct ARMD at any age. They reported success with a 15 year-old. Guess what? ARMD does not occur that early in life. (Remember, it's age-related!) Who knows what eye problem the poor teenager was dealing with: familial drusen, Best's disease, fundus flavimaculatus?
Beware claims of cure-alls that haven't withstood the tests of multiple studies and followed sound medical principles.
Related Topics: Alternative Medicine, Herbals & Supplements, Hospitals Add Alternative Medicine
Technorati Tags: microacupuncture, macular degeneration, ARMD, alternative medicine
Charlotte, a feisty 85 year-old neighbor, handed me a clipping from the local senior citizens' toss-away newspaper. Now I know why they call them toss-aways!
The headline read: Microacupuncture Effective for Macular Degeneration. There it was in large bold letters. I was stunned. Microacupuncture? How come I never read anything about it in the eye journals?
Apparently some enterprising alternative healer from Denmark claims to reverse the irreversible damage caused by advanced macular degeneration and other serious eye problems. Specially trained disciples, microacupuncturists, are now spreading the word. Be careful. Be skeptical.
True, traditional acupuncture has been shown to offer relief for many different kinds of health and behavioral problems. It has withstood the critical scrutiny of diligent scientific research. Most experts believe acupuncture stimulates release of powerful neurotransmitters to exert its effect. That is to say, acupuncture works best with neurologic disorders. The tissue changes that occur with Age Related Macular Degeneration involve abnormal blood vessels, bleeding, inflammation and scarring. There is no needlestick to the hand that can make that go away.
What is most worrisome are the anecdotal claims. One promise is that microacupuncture will correct ARMD at any age. They reported success with a 15 year-old. Guess what? ARMD does not occur that early in life. (Remember, it's age-related!) Who knows what eye problem the poor teenager was dealing with: familial drusen, Best's disease, fundus flavimaculatus?
Beware claims of cure-alls that haven't withstood the tests of multiple studies and followed sound medical principles.
Related Topics: Alternative Medicine, Herbals & Supplements, Hospitals Add Alternative Medicine
Technorati Tags: microacupuncture, macular degeneration, ARMD, alternative medicine
2 Comments:
I posted a comment the other day. Do you generally remove them so quickly? Or did you not like what I had to say. I will say it again.
The person posting this article needs to educate himself on both acupuncture and macular degeneration. Acupuncture does NOT work on the neurological system.
Stargardt's is early onset macular degeneration. To say that a young person can't get macular degeneration is saying you don't know much about eye diseases. He sarcastically says with a question mark "remember its age-related." Sorry. The disease is called macular degeneration. There is a clear distinction made between age-related macular degeneration and early onset macular degeneration.
I happen to be familiar with microacupuncture and know that it helps hundreds of people with helping to restore vision. No it is not a cure. It is a treatment that helps normalize blood flow, thereby allowing the body's healing system to work "all by itself." We all know what happens when blood flow is cut off. The cells die. Is it so hard to figure out that if you get the blood flowing the cells will start to regenerate. It isn't rocket science, but yes it is science. Clinical studies that observe thousands of patients getting similar benefit is science.
I happened to have read the dismissive comments on microacupuncture. It's really unfortunate when a medical "expert" doesn't do his homework and instead gives an uneducated response to a valid question.
Acupuncture - micro or otherwise - DOES work on ARMD, Stargardts, glaucoma, cataracts. With results proven by tests done by - yes! - MDs.
It may not be your chosen approach, but at the very least, research your replies before posting.
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