Ningli Wang - Integrative Ophthalmology

It is estimated that, except ocular trauma, only 15% ocular diseases are directly resulted from abnormal ocular structure or function, while the remaining 85% are caused by abnormalities in other organs. If an ophthalmologist only focuses on the eyes in the diagnosis and treatment, it means he is trying to cure all diseases with only 15% of his capability, and the consequences will be devastating.

It is difficult for both ophthalmologists and doctors in other departments to understand this conclusion, since we know so little about the pathogenesis of systemic diseases that can cause eye diseases. There is a famous saying that the eye is the window of the soul. In fact, it is the best organ to reflect the health of the entire body. For example, the pale conjunctiva represents anemia of the blood system; the yellow sclera may reflect liver failure; the change of pupil size may indicate foodborne illness. Paying attention to systemic diseases could be conducive to the prevention and treatment of eye diseases. Understanding the systematic factors resulting in ocular lesions and applying them to the treatment and diagnosis in ophthalmology are what integrative ophthalmology is going to do.

Integrative ophthalmology is an important part of holistic integrative medicine. Although the theory of integrative medicine was proposed just recently, its practice has a long history. At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, a famous doctor named Simiao Sun found that fine diet may lead to beriberi disease, which can be cured by adding bran to the diet, while rough diet may result in nyctalopia, which could be cured by eating pork liver (I dont know if the idiom Xing Gan Ming Mu comes from that). At that time, we didnt know that nyctalopia was a result of vitamin A deficiency. If we figured it out at that time, we would definitely win the Nobel Prize, except that at that time, Mr. Nobel was not born yet! So far, numerous eye diseases still remain incurable or have only imperfect treatment options, and some may even become severer after the treatment. The fact is that we know too little about the pathogenesis of many eye diseases. Ocular diseases may be presentations of the abnormalities of the whole body. To understand the pathogenesis of ocular diseases, there is much we need to learn from Mr. Simiao Sun!

Professor Wang is a distinguished ophthalmologist in China. He has many unique insights and exquisite techniques in the field of ophthalmology. What is more valuable is that he is committed to connecting ocular diseases with the abnormalities of the whole body. He invited many experts other than ophthalmologists to write this book called Integrative Ophthalmology . He is also the first pioneer in this aspect and could be regarded as the founder of integrative ophthalmology. This book is just a beginning. It is the first version of Integrative Ophthalmology , so it may not be perfect. We know that it is difficult to perceive everything in the world and even harder to link all the things together. However, it doesnt matter; as long as we insist on writing it year after year, we will ultimately get the ideal version of