eye problem

[greyseal]

Hi. Two, related questions. I have a stye and was wondering what you'd all suggest. I've been trying a hot tea bag over the area, and it seems to work. A little. Can't tell if it gets more aggravted every day from being out in the cold(where I work).
2nd part of the question is this: What does TCM say the cause of a stye is? (in case it's something other than simple, plain, old bacteria in the gland there.)

[Pakmei]

Hi Grey Seal,

It really depends on the location of the stye. Whether it is either on the upper and lower eye lid.

If it is on the lower eyelid, then it maybe due to stomach heat, if it is on the upper eyelid then it could be heat in the Gall Bladder meridian.

On a personal note I had a stye on the lower lateral aspect of my eyelid. The method that I use to get rid of it was to bleed a acupuncture point called Nei Ting - ST44 on the foot.

Best advice would be for you to look the point up on the net, it's basically at the web margin between the second and third toes - the actual location being more towards the second toe.

Nei Ting is the water point in the stomach meridian which is used to treat most problems to do with stomach heat / fire.

The stomach meridian ST1, starts underneath the eyeball directly below the pupil, so as heat has a tendency to rise. Some people will get problems such as stye's, redness / soreness of the eyes, itchiness, etc.

You may be asking yorself why you would bleed a point on your foot to cure a stye?
Well it's really to do with meridian theory, in acupuncture we treat one end of the channel to create an effect on the other end. Also the points that are on the feet, legs, hands and arms are known as the command points which relate to the 5 elements.

Each elemental point has an action in being able to generate or control another element... so in this case, water controlling fire on the earth channel.

You might want to cut down on any energetically hot foods (fried, greasy, spicy foods) and beverages (coffee, alcohol, etc) for a while as well, as this may exasperate the condition.

However if you do bleed ST44, (as I did in my case), the stye disappeared after a few hours and has never returned. You only need to bleed a couple of drops of blood with an acupuncture needle, then cover the area with cotton wool for a few seconds.

If you want more info, by all means PM me, or leave a message on here and I shall come back to you.