Acupressure reduces postoperative pain in pterygium, Study reveals

The study is published in the Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice.

Postoperative pain in the pterygium of the eye seriously affects patient recovery.

Hence, LushaCen and colleagues from the Department of Ophthalmology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Chinacarried out the present study to assess the efficacy of auricular point acupressure treatment on post-operative recovery in patients after pterygium surgery.

The authors conducted a pilot, randomized controlled study including a total of 60 patients (60 eyes) who were randomly assigned to two groups out of which only fifty-three patients completed the study. After pterygium surgery, the auricular group was treated using ear acupressure (acupressure points with Cowherb seeds) and the control group was treated using sham auricular therapy (acupressure points without Cowherb seeds).

Both groups were treated for one week. Outcome measures included pain score, corneal epithelial score, best-corrected visual acuity, and recurrence rate.

The results showed that-

a. The mean pain scores and corneal epithelial scores were significantly reduced over time in the auricular group compared with those in the control group (p < 0.05).

b. The time-group interaction for both pain scores and corneal epithelial scores was significant between the two groups (p < 0.05).

c. Simple main effect analysis showed the mean pain scores in the auricular group were significantly lower at each time point (the first 2-h, the first day, the third day and the first week, p < 0.05) than the control group.

d. Mean corneal epithelial scores of the auricular group were significantly lower on the first day and third day respectively than the control group (p < 0.05).

e. There was no significant difference in the best-corrected visual acuity or recurrence rate between the two groups (p > 0.05).