Traumatic Optic Neuropathy (TON) and Ayurveda - A case study

The vision loss in the Traumatic Optic Neuropathy is the impact of deformational forces. This occurs due to direct or indirect injuries during trauma to skull. The use of high dose corticosteroids is the primary line of treatment in such injuries still remains a matter of debate. Traumatic Optic Neuropathy is yet an unexplored topic of study in Ayurveda. The Traumatic Optic Neuropathy can be correlated with Abhighatajanya Vataprakopaj Drishtinash. The treatment principles of Vataprakopaj Vyadhi are Snehan (massage), Swedan (sudation), Basti (enema) and Nasya (oleation through nasal route). A 50 year old male patient came to outpatient department suffered from motorcycle accident and had a forehead trauma followed by loss of vision in both eyes after 5 days and diagnosed as Traumatic Optic Neuropathy. An electrophysiological assessment showed absence of waveform in Visual Evoked Potential (VEP). According to Ayurveda patient was diagnosed primarily as Abhighatajanya Vataprakopaj Drishtinash and started to follow the protocol of Vataprakopaj Vyadhi. Patient received Ayurvedic formulations in morning, after meal and at night for 12 months and a course of Yapan Basti (medicated decoction enema) followed by Netratarpan (eye satiation), Nasya and Abhyanga (body and foot massage). Patient showed an improvement in the visual quality from no perception of light to perception of light and rays in right eye in 9 month. Patient had improvement in P100 latencies of right eye in VEP report and subjective improvement in quality of vision to perceive the images and objects. Application of Ayurvedic principles and Panchakarma therapy resulted in improvement of the case. An early management of Traumatic Optic Neuropathy with Ayurvedic treatment can have a significant impact on the clinical/visual outcome in terms of recovery in damaged optic nerve fibers.