02/16/2020
Dr. Hansen interview - 10 questions about Macular Degeneration
Q.: I recently have been diagnosed with Age-related Macular Degeneration. At the doctor’s office I have been told eventually I am going to be blind. Is that true?
You don’t have to accept the verdict because it has shown to be a lifestyle responsive disease. Actually you don’t even have to look at it as a disease. Look at it as a premature aging process of one organ/tissue in your body that is more vulnerable than others. In a different person it might affect their knees, their heart and coronary arteries or just their hair growth etc.… We all have different bodies and every case I see is different. There are a plentitude of factors determining the individual outcome. Eating a better diet, more commitment to exercise, loosing weight or quitting smoking, better sleep and stress management can all make a huge difference in slowing down the progression of your condition.
Q.: What else can I do?
That is a good question. Degenerative eye disease, if you don’t change anything, is progressive. That’s what the term “degenerative” suggests. We know that taking a supplement called the AREDS formula has shown to slow down the progression of dry Macular Degeneration. It doesn’t seem to improve the condition, though. Naturopathic medicine, after all, seems to be suited best to address many degenerative conditions conventional medicine doesn’t have an answer to yet. We work with a combination of Acupuncture and Therapeutic Light or Electro- Stimulation to stop the progression of AMD. In most cases we are able to improve people’s vision.
Q.: Does the vision improvement hold?
Yes, particularly when combined with the necessary lifestyle changes and refresher treatments the improved level of vision can be maintained for a long time.
Q.: Why Acupuncture and Light Therapy?
These therapies seem to be most able to make a difference in turning around degenerative eye disease.
Acupuncture has a long history of helping failing vision. On top of that, since the 1980s better and more specialized Acupuncture protocols have been established that create more reliable and lasting results for degenerative conditions like e.g. Macular Degeneration or Stargardt’s disease. At Vision Acupuncture we combine points from various Acupuncture traditions and newly found Microsystems to create the most effective protocol for every individual. The treatment is intensive and involves 2 to 4 sessions per day. Stimulating the retina with certain light frequencies and/or electric micro currents further strengthens the effect on the natural repair mechanisms of the involved tissues. Basically the Microsystem Acupuncture stimulates blood flow to and microcirculation in the retina and visual brain. The Light Therapy seems to recharge the vision cells’ mitochondria, which are the “power plants” within the cell. In Eastern medicine terms, Acupuncture enhances energy flow to the eyes, whereas light therapy naturally “speaks” to tissues that have specialized in light detection and seeing millions of years ago.
Q.: What can I do myself?
Acupuncture and light therapy can definitely help improve eyesight and stop the progression of your disease, but they won’t cure it. Therefore we like to teach you how to improve your condition yourself. In our 3h Vision Improvement Program we teach you how to take care of your eyes through proper nutrition, vitamin supplementation, stress management, regular eye exercise and other self care measures like Acupressure. Our patients love to learn about what they can do themselves and it empowers them to go beyond the feelings of helplessness they experience after having been given a diagnosis of gradually going blind.
Q.: Does my age play a role?
Yes and no. Biological age in itself doesn’t mean much. As long as we breathe and move our tissues repair themselves. It’s more about your all over health and individual response to natural therapies. Each case is different but as a rule the more active you are, the better your vascular status is and the less medication you are on the better your chances of a quick response. Then of course the degree of progression of your disease is a big factor. The earlier we start the treatment the better the results.
Q.: Are there other factors that influence the outcome of treatment?
In fact, there are more then we can ever know. Basically we need to bring more oxygen and nutrients into the eye (and brain!) and get rid of inflammation in the damaged tissues. Anything that stands in the way of that is a factor. In that, Macular Degeneration is not different from any other degenerative disease. Establishing a healthy and active lifestyle as much as possible for you is paramount to confront any of these.
To a certain degree your specific diagnosis will determine the prognosis. Wet AMD for example tends to progress much quicker than the dry form. Some hereditary diseases like Retinitis Pigmentosa or Stargardt’s cause vision loss much earlier in life than AMD.
With naturopathic treatment we can influence the epigenetic factors but not your genome itself. Still, we see a lot of improvement with treatment.
Another big factor is attitude towards the disease. Going down in fear and despair when receiving the diagnosis won’t help it. Feeling invulnerable and ignoring the diagnosis isn’t a successful strategy either. A healthy mix of realistic acceptance of the disease and constructive hope for the best vision possible and a generally positive outlook on life seem to work best.
Q.: I am afraid of loosing my driving license. Can the Acupuncture treatment help me?
The law prescribes minimum requirements of vision for operating motor vehicles. These might vary slightly from province to province. Your eye doctor will know them and advice you accordingly. Generally, these requirements are sensible and most likely you will have noticed yourself that driving safely has become somewhat a challenge when you get close to this range. We don’t encourage anybody to drive or operate machinery without the legal acuity to his or her eyesight. That being said, yes, in some cases their improvement of vision has allowed people to keep their license longer than expected.
Q.: Why is intensive treatment most effective?
It is the intensive nature of the treatment that produces the maximum effect on your eyesight. Regular Acupuncture e.g. once or twice a week just doesn’t produce the same effects. Our specialized intensive Acupuncture protocols are designed to boost your eyesight effectively and sustainably. Initially, by maximizing oxygen and nutrient flow to the eyes, we aim for reactivating dormant or non-functional light receptor cells. For most patients this reflects in vision improvement within 5 – 10 days of treatment. But the treatment also initiates a long term healing process for your damaged light receptors and local microcirculation. The latter is reflected in the stabilization or continuing slow improvement of your vision.
Q.: Could stem cell therapy help me heal my degenerative vision loss and if yes, when will it be available for the general population?
To the best of my knowledge, at this point, this therapy form is not safe and ready for routine use in a broader population. There is however research happening that gives hope that there will be treatment available for some conditions in the future.
In summary it seems that while there are positive results being realized they haven’t been replicated consistently enough to draw conclusions and say that stem cell therapy is safe yet for treating degenerative vision loss. It does seem that there is some exciting research and that the therapy will be available some day. We are not sure when. Estimates run from 5 – 10 years in Canada.
In the meantime all research supports that the healthier you are the more effective the stem cell procedure will be. It's like in planting a garden. The healthier the soil the better the plants you put in will grow. The best thing you can do to improve and sustain your eyesight is taking good care of yourself and your eyes. I recommend regular Acupuncture refresher treatments, wholesome nutrition, exercise and stress management. Then when the therapy comes, if you want to do it, you’ll be a good candidate for success.
