Common Oral Drugs in Ophthalmology

Drugs for Removing Wind

Drugs for removing wind have the effect to dispel  Pathogenic wind from the body surface to relieve swelling, stop pain and itching, arrest tears and remove nebula, so they are widely used in ophthalmology, especially in the treatment of external oculopathy at the beginning stage.

The common wind-removing drugs in ophthalmology are of two kinds, diaphoretics pungent in flavour and cool in property and diaphoretics pungent in flavour and warm in property.

Diaphoretics Pungent in Flavour and Cool in Property

Drugs of this kind are chiefly indicated for ophthalmopathy due to pathogenic wind-heat and the common drugs used in clinic are Sangye (Folium Mori), Juhua ( Flos Chrysanthemi ) , Bohe ( Herba Menthae ) , Gegen (Radix Puerariae ) , Chantui ( Periostracum Cicadae), Chaihu (Radix Bupleuri ), Manjingzi ( Fructus Viticis )and so on. All these drugs can expell pathogenic wind-heat to stop itching and pain and remove swelling and redness. Sangye and Juhua have the effect to remove pathogenic wind-heat and liver heat to improve the vision. They are often compatibly used to treat ocular diseases caused by pathogenic wind-heat of liver meridian; Bohe is a common drug to treat oculopathy due to pathogenic wind and heat, and Gegen which acts on the yangming meridian to remove wind and heat in the meridian is often used to treat oculopathy with pain in the forehead; Chantui can remove pathogenic wind-heat to relieve nebula and arrest itching, so it is often used to treat corneal nebula, blepharitis marginalis and other obvious itching symptoms of eye; Chaihu has the effect of reducing fever, soothing the depressed liver and invigorating the spleen yang, so when compatibly used with other different drugs, it is often applied to treat corneal nebula due to pathogenic wind-heat or liver heat, ptosis of upper eyelid due to deficiency of the middle energizer, or various internal and external oculopathy due to stagnancy of liver qi.

 Diaphoretics Pungent in Flavour and Warm in Property

Drugs of this kind are chiefly indicated for ophthalmopathy due to pathogenic wind-cold and the common drugs used in clinic are Jingjie (Herba Schizonepetae ), Qianghuo (Rhizoma seu Radix Notopterygii ) , Fangfeng (Radix Ledebouriae), Gaoben ( Rhizoma et Radix Ligustici), Xixin ( Herba Asari ), and Baizhi ( Radix Angelicae Dahuricae). These drugs have the effect of dispersing pathogenic wind-cold to subdue swelling, stop pain and itching and remove nebula. The drugs Jingjie, Qianghuo and Fangfeng can be very effective in dispersing wind to stop pain and itching and removing nebula and are often used compatibly to treat ophthalmalgia, headache, un-
bearable itching of eye and conjunctivitis caused by exopathic wind-cold; Qianghuo has a better effect in treating ophthalmagia due to pathogenic wind-dampness; Gaoben, the action of which is to disperse pathogenic wind and cold and can reach the vertex, is often used together with other wind-eliminating drugs to treat the cases due to exopathic wind and cold with pain in the vertex; Xixin, with a very strong effect of stopping pain, is often used to treat ophthalmopathy due to pathogenic wind-cold with severe ophthalmolgia and headache but its application should not last long; Baizhi, pertaining to yangming meridian, can relieve pain and lacrimation and is usually used to treat the cases due to exopathic wind and cold with headache and
massive tears.

Heat-clearing Drugs

Heat-clearing drugs which are cold or cool in property have the effect to relieve swelling and pain by removing redness and detoxicating and are chiefly used to treat various ophthalmopathy of heat types caused by noxious heat and Pathogenic fire which invade the eye. The common drugs for heat-removing are classified as heat-clearing and detoxicating drugs, heat-clearing and fire-purging drugs, viscera-purging and heat-clearing drugs, heat-clearing and vision-improving drugs and heat-clearing and blood-cooling drugs.

Heat-clearing and Detoxicating Drugs

Drugs of this kind are chiefly indicated for ophthalmopathy of the excessive heat type due to all sorts of pathogenic noxious heat. The common drugs used in clinic are Jinyinhua ( Flos Lonicerae ), Lianqiao ( Fructus Forsythiae ) , Daqingye ( Folium Isatidis ) , Banlangen (Radix Isaticlis), Zihuadiding (Herba Violae ), Pugongying
(Herba Taraxaci) and so on.

Heat-clearing and Fire-purging Drugs

Drugs of this kind are mainly indicated for ophthalmopathy due to excessive pathogenic heat. The common drugs used in clinic include Longdancao (Radix Gentianae), Huanglian (Rhizoma Coptidis), Huangqin (Radix Scutellariae ), Huangbai ( Cortex Phellodendri ),Shanzhizi ( Radix Dittospori ), Shigao ( Gypsum Fibrosum ), Zhimu ( Rhizoma Anemarrhenae ), Sangbaipi ( Cortex Mori), Danzhuye ( Herba Lophatheri) and so on. Among them, Longdancao, which can remove excessive pathogenic heat of the liver and spleen, is often used to treat corneal disorders due to fire hyperactivity of the liver; Huanglian purges heart fire and irritability and is
used to treat blepharitis angularis or canthal redness; Huangqin and Sangbaipi can purge lung fire and are used to treat hyperemia of bulbar conjunctiva; Huangbai purges kidney fire, disperses deficient fire and controls ministerial fire, and it is often used compatibly with Zhimu to treat ophthalmopathy caused by yin deficiency and fire hyperactivity, and togethor with Huanglian and Huangqin to treat ophthalmopathy due to pathogenic damp-heat; Shanzhizi can purge the fire of sanjiao (triple energizer) and is applicable to all types of ophthalmopathy due to excessive
heat when combined with other heat-clearing drugs; Shigao and Zhimu purge stomach fire and are used to treat palpebral edema and hypopyon; Danzhuye can remove heart fire and induce diuresis and is used to treat pterygiurn and canthal redness.

Viscera-Purging and Heat-clearing Drugs