Eye on TCM

MDS hosted its first bilingual talk last Saturday when physician Tang Yue presented an interesting talk on Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and its approach towards eye care to more than 50 MDS members.

Physician Tang, who is from Eu Yan Sang, spoke in Mandarin with slides in English, while Widia Huang, also of Eu Yan Sang, and translator Tan Dan Feng provided English translations. This led to a very interactive session at the Alexandra Hospital for all.

The physician began by giving an overview of how eye diseases are diagnosed in TCM. She emphasised that TCM views the body as an organic whole. She elaborated the basic structure of the eye, and its relationship with other organs and meridians.

She then discussed three types of macular degeneration – hereditary MD; High Myopic MD; and AMD. She outlined TCM’s comprehensive approach, which can include acupuncture, herbal treatments, as well as consultation with Western doctors, particularly incorporating the results of Western diagnostic devices and tests.

She stressed that TCM does not have a “one size fits all” approach, and each patient’s treatment regime must be tailored to his/her own body. Therefore there are few off the shelf types of TCM medications for the eyes.

That said, she gave the MDS members interesting insights into TCM’s approach to nutrition. She also left us with several recipes, which are reproduced below. After a lively Q and A, the session closed at 4.30pm.

Physician Tang Yue is a graduate from Shanghai University of TCM with a Bachelor in Traditional Chinese Medicine and Pharmacology. She currently practices at the Eu Yan Sang Specialist TCM Centre, 290 Orchard Road #13-08/09 Paragon, Tower Lobby 1.

Recipe 1

Ingredients:

• Mulberry (Fructus Mori), 15gm 桑椹15克
• White Chrysanthemum (Dendranthemamorifolium), 9gm 白菊花9克
• Honey, to taste 蜂蜜少许

Cooking Method:
Boil with water, consume once daily.

Function:
Nourishes the kidney and improves eyesight.

Recipe 2

Ingredients:
Carrot, 6 sticks 胡萝卜6根

Cooking Method:
Boil with water, consume for 2 days.
If needed, continue consumption for 2 weeks.

Function:
Improves eyesight.

Recipe 3

Ingredients:

• 1 White fish (any white fish variant, cleaned) 白鱼一条，去鳞及内脏
• Chinese wolfberry (Fructus Lycii), 30gm 枸杞子30克
• Spring onion, ginger & salt (to taste) 再加调味料如葱，姜，盐少许

Cooking Method:
Cook as soup.

Function:
Strengthens spleen & stomach, nourish the lungs & kidneys and improves eyesight.

Recipe 4

Ingredients:
Chinese wolfberry (Fructus Lycii), 20gm 枸杞子20克

Method:
Consume by chewing once daily, for a period of 2 weeks.

Recipe 5

Ingredients:
Chrysanthemum 菊花

Cooking Method:
Mix in hot water, consume often.