[Objectives] Acupuncture has shown to be beneficial for pseudomyopia and asthenopia patients through the improvement of hypermyotonia of the masculus ciliaris. Since acupuncture leads to visual acuity improvement and increases the retinal blood-flow volume, we wished to examine whether acupuncture results in higher retinal sensitivity.
[Methods] Eleven healthy adults were recruited for this study. They received acupuncture (leaving needle) of LI4 (Hegu), Taiyang, and shang-jingming on both sides for 10 minutes in the supine position. Ten minutes of supine position with rest was used as a control. Retinal sensitivity before and after acupuncture, was measured using the blue-on-yellow program of the Humphrey Field Analyzer (HFA). The increase of mean deviation parameter (MD), foveal sensitivity, and examination time were analyzed.
[Results] Acupuncture did not influence the MD or foveal sensitivity in this study. However, examination time was significantly prolonged in the control (p< 0.05), but this was suppressed by acupuncture. The number of volunteers with a shorter examination time was significantly larger than the control (p< 0.05).
[Conclusions] A significant improvement in healthy volunteers was not detected by HFA. However, acupuncture may influence both the improvement of asthenopia and the concentration of the volunteers, leading to shortened examination times.