Alternative Therapies and Health News

If eyes are windows to the soul, then here are some easy ways to keep the windows clean and clear for a good vision.

• Use home made eyewash to clean your eyes. Eyewash recipe:

1. Make eye wash at home using one tablespoon each of comfrey root, fennel seeds and goldenseal powder. Mix comfrey root and fennel seeds in a cup of water and boil for few minutes. Cool it in refrigerator and then use. Add goldenseal powder to make it stronger.
2. Here’s another eyewash recipe: mix one cup of rose petal and four tablespoon of raspberry leaves in four cups of boiling water. After it cools, strain and use as eyewash.

• To avoid sport related injuries, or if you are working in a workshop or mowing the lawn, use protective eyewear like safety glasses or full face shields to prevent debris from entering your eye and causing eye injury. Use glasses made of polycarbonate or another sturdy plastic.
• Consume food items rich in vitamin A for improving and maintaining healthy vision. Eat lots of spinach as it contains carotenoid needed for retina and eye tissue. If vitamin A is taken as a supplement, then take 25,000 IU of vitamin A daily.
• To cure retinopathy in diabetic patients, take ginkgo biloba. It increases the oxygen and nutrient supply to the eye and clears toxins.
• Place thin slices of potatoes on your eyes.
• To cool your eyes and increase blood supply, splash plain cold water over your eyes several times and then rub briskly for a minute with a clean towel.
• Mix half a teaspoon of liquorice powder with an equal quantity of honey and ghee. Mix this preparation in a cup of milk and consume in empty stomach twice daily.
• Face the sun with your eyes closed. Sway sideways several times. Open the eyes and blink for 10 minutes.

Conjunctivitis is an inflammation of the eye. The eyes become red and itchy. This happens because of inflammation of conjunctiva, which is the thin membrane covering the front of the eye. Following are some home remedies to treat conjunctivitis.

• Apply warm compress on your eyes for 5 to 10 minutes for 3 to 4 times a day.
• Clean your eyes using a cotton ball dipped in sterile water.
• Juice of raw vegetables especially of carrot and spinach is effective in the treatment of conjunctivitis.
• Consume food items rich in vitamin A and B2 - milk, curd, butter, carrots, pumpkin, green leafy vegetables, tomatoes, almonds, citrus fruits, mangoes, and papaya.
• Make a cup of gooseberry juice and mix it with honey. Have it twice in a day.
• Wash your eye with coriander leaves crushed in water.
• Avoid excessive starchy and sugary food.
• Place a towel soaked in cold water over the eyes. Cover it with a piece of warm towel to retain the temperature. Keep it for one hour every night for a week.
• Do some eye exercises like moving your eyes from side to side, up and down, in circles clockwise and anticlockwise. Rotate your neck and then your shoulders clockwise and anticlockwise.
• Place moist chamomile tea-bag on your eyes for 10 minutes. Repeat it for every 3 hours.

These eye exercises help relax the eye muscles and improve the nerve coordination between the eye and the brain. Exercising your eye constantly might not help you restore your vision, but it will certainly prevent further deterioration of vision.

Through these simple exercises you could prevent further vision damage.

• Take off your glasses and contact lenses before you begin to exercise.
• Rub the palm of your hands until it is warm. Cover your eyes with your cupped palm, and do not let any light enter through the gaps of your fingers. Imagine black color and focus on it. Breathe slowly and evenly. Do the exercise whenever you find time.
• Roll your eyes in a clockwise direction first and then in anticlockwise direction.
• Look straight. Focus on an object at a long distance. Shift your focus to an object far away at the right side without turning your head. Similarly, turn your focus to the left side.
• Leave your eyes closed for 5 seconds and then open it for 5 seconds. Repeat 10 times.
• Close your eyes and look directly at the sun. Turn your head from side to side as much as you can.
• Focus on a distant object for half a minute; and then, focus on a nearby object. Repeat this at least 5 times.
• These days, 3D stereo images are used as tools for training the eyes to treat vision problems.
• Hold your fingers slightly away from your nose, and then slowly bring it close to your nose. Let your eyes follow the movement of your fingers.

Because of the busy schedules we follow, and the continues hours we spend before the computer, eyes are the worst affected due to stress. Here are some tips to reduce the tiredness in your eyes and to make them sparkle with health.

• Boil tea powder in a some water and let it cool. Dip 2 gauzes in this liquid and place the gauzes on each eye for around 15 minutes. Keep dipping the cotton wads into the liquid, as soon as the gauzes dry up. This is a very effective treatment for tired eyes.
• Wash the tired eyes with cold water, many times a day. This treatment reduces inflammation, moisturizers the skin /tissues, relaxes the eyes & provides relief from eyestrain & fatigue.
• Lavender oil offers relief to tired and strained eyes. Add a drop of lavender oil to 500 ml of water and shake the solution well. Dip two cotton wool pads in the liquid, remove the excess water and place one pad over each eye.

Try the above given tips, they are sure to relax your window to the world!

Here is a list of common eye problems and tips to deal with them:

1. Dry Eyes: Your eyes can get damaged by extreme dryness, so get medical advice even for mild cases. Artificial tears are often effective at treating dry eyes, but a few people are allergic to the preservatives present in them. Avoid direct air from fan or AC, hair dryers and smoky or overheated rooms. Wear sunglasses whenever you go out. Eye glasses can often reduce the dryness caused by wind.

2. Glaucoma: It needs early diagnosis and treatment. People over the age of 65, or suffering from diabetes or those who have a family history of glaucoma, and the near-sighted need more frequent checkups. Your doctor can prescribe pills or eye-drops to reduce the pressure. They are effective in preserving vision and must be taken for life. Other methods such as Laser and conventional surgical techniques are also useful in some cases.

3. Detached retina: Seek treatment immediately, as this may cause blindness. See an ophthalmologist as soon as possible. There are many treatments available now, including laser or surgical repair. These can successfully correct early retinal detachments in 90% of the cases.

4. Blepharitis: You can apply warm moist compresses for 10 minutes several times in a day. And wash your eyelids with diluted baby shampoo, without letting it enter your eyes. If the problem doesn’t clear up, consult an eye-care professional, to prescribe some drops or ointment.  Don’t rub or scratch your eyelids.

5. Foreign Bodies: Don’t rub or scratch your eye. Wash your eye with water, or hold your eye in a glass full of water. If the discomfort persists or becomes severe, see a doctor. Be careful with your nails, because you may end up scratching your eye. Never try to remove any particle that appears embedded in the eye, especially in the cornea.

6. Conjuctivitis (pink eye): It is highly infectious. Avoid touching or rubbing your eye, to avoid spreading infection to the other eye, or to other people. Wipe away the discharge with a clean moist tissue. Use a seperate towel, that nobody uses. Wash your hands often and don’t use contact lenses or eye-makeup for some days. Get a doctor’s help if redness worsens, discharge is severe, eye becomes very painful or vision is persistently blurred. Antibiotic eye drops can clear up most bacterial infections.

7. Cataracts: This requires surgical removal of the lens and replacement with intraocular lenses that are implanted in eye. This treatment is usually safe and 95 % effective at improving vision.

8. Macular degeneration: It usually occurs in older people. Its symptoms include decreased acuity, loss or distortion of central vision and blind spots. Sun exposure may also aggravate the condition. There is no sure-shot cure for this but vision loss may be slowed with early treatment, that includes supplements containing zinc and antioxidants.  It may be dry or wet. The ‘dry’ form is more common whereas the ‘wet’ form is more severe, and there is an increased blood vessel formation and hemorrhages. Laser surgery may also help some people.

9. Stye: Symptoms include red painful inflammation like a small boil on the eyelid. You can apply warm moist compresses for 10 minutes several times in a day. Don’t squeeze or rub it. It can spread the infection. See a doctor if the stye appears frequently or takes longer to heal.

An Eye Stye is a common infection that resembles a boil or a pimple and appears around the eyelids. You may experience pain, redness, and itching in the eyes. Your eyelids may also appear swollen.
A stye results from a bacterial infection or from clogging of the oil glands around the eyelashes. It is usually harmless, and does not interfere with the vision. However they look bumpy and ugly. There are some home remedies for styes that may be helpful for you.

Natural Cures for Eye Styes

1. Take a gold ring and rub the sty with the gold ring a few times everyday. It will stop the pain and the sty will go away.
2. Using a hot compress is the best option. Apply a clean warm wet cloth to the eyes and press gently on the affected area for a few minutes. Do this for 4 to 5 times a day.
3. Boil a teaspoon of coriander seeds with a cup of water, like a herbal tea preparation. Wash your eyes 3 to 4 times a day with this solution.
4. Warm some Guava leaves and place them on a warm damp cloth, and use as a compress to reduce the redness and swelling.
5. Boil 1 teaspoon of turmeric in 2 cups of water, until it reduces to half. Cool and strain it through a muslin cloth. And apply as eye drops 3 times a day.
6. Take a cup of water and dissolve 2 to 3 granules of alum in it. And use as an eyewash.
7. You can also use a grated potato as a poultice, to reduce swelling in inflamed eyes.
8. Boil a handful of acacia leaves in two cups of water and make a decoction. Apply it as a compress on the eyes.
9. Rub clove spice in water and apply to the eye stye.
10. Slit an aloe leaf lengthwise and place the pulpy side on the sore eye.
11. Take a raw egg and seperate the white from yellow. Then place the white of the raw egg in a white cotton cloth or paper towel. Keep it on the stye 3 times a day for 15 minutes each time.
12. Mix Johnson’s baby shampoo with water. Put this solution on a Q-tip and wash the eye lashes with it. Do this twice a day.
13. Wet tea bags in warm water and place them on the eyes for 8-10 minutes. Do this several times a day. This shrinks the sty to half its size because of the tannic acid present in tea.
14. Or you can run cold water over a tea bag. Squeeze the water and then place it on your eye for about 30 mins.
15. Make a solution of warm water and salt. Let it cool a bit, so that you can apply it on your eyes. Soak some cotton in it and hold it to your eye for a minute. Repeat this technique a few times with fresh cotton.

Eye Stye Tips
When you get an eye stye, you may need to follow certain preventive tips to stop the spread of styes:

1. Maintaining proper hygiene is very important. Always remember to wash hands before and after touching the infected eye.
2. Never squeeze or pop a stye, because the infection might spread from one eye to another.
3. Avoid touching or rubbing the infected eyes.
4. Apply warm compresses to the eyelid at least four to five times a day.
5. Keep the eyelids clean and free of oil.
6. Avoid excessive intake of sugary and starchy food.
7. Styes may also spread from an infected person to another member of the family. Use a separate towel and soap if you have an eye stye.
8. Gently clean the eyelid with a clean, warm washcloth everyday.
9. Visit an opthalmologist and get a Rx ointment or oral antibiotics. Apply the antibiotic ointment or drops regularly that your doctor has prescribed.
10. Do not wear contact lenses when you get an eye stye.
11. Never share your eye make-up, especially if you are prone to getting styes often.
12. Styes can be prevented by maintaining good hygiene, proper diet and relaxation techniques like palming.
13. Protect your eyes from pollution and dust.
14. Sometimes the stye may need to be surgically removed. Surgical drainage of the stye is necessary if the stye is not responding to treatment.

If your eyes are tired and stressed, try these simple tricks:

• Take 2 used teabags, refrigerate them for some time and place on your tired eyes for 20 minutes. Voila ! You have fresh and beautiful eyes.
• Or boil some tea in a little water and let it cool. Dip 2 cotton pads in it and place the pads on each eye for 15 minutes. This is an effective treatment for tired eyes.
• Place cucumber slices on your eyes for half an hour. And then wash your eyes with cold water.
• If you have tired eyes, wash them with cold water several times a day. This treatment reduces inflammation, relaxes the eyes & provides relief from eyestrain & fatigue.
• Dip two cotton pads in rose water and place them on your eyes for atleast 20 minutes.
• Lavender oil is also known to offer relief for tired and strained eyes. Add a drop of lavender oil to 500 ml of water and shake the solution well. Dip two cotton pads in it, squeeze out the excess water and place one pad on each eye.