A Phoenix Arising from Fire: New Applications of old Traditional Herbs, 2008

Many herbs have been well documented in traditional Chinese medical books for treating eye diseases. These herbs can be used in their original from or in an extracted from. Many commercial products prepared from herbs are available in pill from. Herbs for treating eyes can be used alone or as complementary therapy. In this paper, we reviewed the effects of some well-studied herbs on diseases of eyes. They included Trigonella foenumgraecum L. Sodium Orthovandate, Danshen, Tripterygium wilfordil hook. F., Lycium barbarum L, aloe-emodin, Chi-Ju-Di- Huan-Wan and Sinfito. The molecular biologic studies of the drugs by cell lines, animal studies allowed us understand the mechanisms of the herbs. Besides, clinical trials of the drugs let us understand that these drugs were not only documented on traditional medical books they are useful in applying to the patients indeed. The effects of the herbs discussed in this article included Trigonella foenumgraecum L, Sodium Orthovanadate and Danshen for cataracts and retinopathy in diabetic patients: Sinfito for cataracts in diabetic patients: Triptergyium wilfordii hook f. for corneal disease and treating complications of rheumatoid arthritis; Lycium barbarum L for age-related maculopathy, phototoxicity and glaucomatous optic neuropathy; aloe-emodin for optic neuropathy in glaucoma and Chi-ju-Di-Huan-Wan for dry eyes. In conclusion, herbals are good additional or alternative treatment of eye diseases.