A CLINICAL STUDY OF ROLE OF SHATAVARI GHRITA TARPAN IN THE MANAGEMENT OF TIMIR WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO MYOPIA

Abstract

Sushruta classified the eye diseases according to the lesion's site. ‘Drishtigata Rogas’ (diseases related to vision) are responsible for visual impairment, both partial and complete. Timira (myopia) comes under this group of dis-eases. Sushruta considers Timira, Kacha (myopia), and Linganasha (cataract) to be the progressive clinical stag-es of the disease Linganasha, whereas Vagbhata enumerates six types of Timira as separate entities. Timira is considered the most important one, causing difficulty in vision. A good deal of care must be exercised in carry-ing out its proper diagnosis and treatment. Sushruta, the father of ancient Indian surgery, has recommended ‘Kri-yakalpa’ (medicinal therapies used for eye diseases) for managing Timira and other treatment forms. The term Kriyakalpa refers to the local treatment, which can be applied to almost all types of eye diseases, and it comprises Tarpana, Putapaka, Anjana, Ashchyotana and Seka. Much of the work has been performed by Timira Yoga and Kriyakalpa. But none of them has an excellent modern objective parameter to diagnose the exact role of Kriya-kalpa in the prognosis of Timira or Myopia. So, in this study, we have taken corneal topography as an objective test to assess the corneal changes responsible for myopia's prognosis. A controlled Clinical trial with 30 patients of Timira (myopia) was carried out for 15 days. Corneal Topography was done before and after the treatment. The Subjective criteria were Vivhala Darshana (Blurred vision), Netratana (Eye Strain), Shirobhitapa (Head-ache), Durastha Avyakta darshana (Indistinct Vision), Netra srava (Watering of the eye) and Netra Daha (Burn-ing sensation). The objective criteria were Visual acuity, Refraction under mydriasis and Topography. According to statistical analysis, it can be concluded that Shatavari Ghrita Tarpana (Use of Shatawari Ghrit in a medicinal procedure) is effective in Myopia. No side effects or adverse reactions were seen during treatment. Netra Tarpana with Shatavari Ghrita makes positive topographic changes, which is suggestive of flattening of the cornea and reduction of myopia. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used for all subjective criteria |W| > Wcr. hence Z > 1.96, P<0.05. Therefore, Shatavari ghrita tarpana is significantly effective in decreasing this study's subjective crite-ria. For Visual acuity, t=16.9 for both eyes hence p<0.05, For refraction under mydriasis, t=12.78 for the right and 9.61 for the left eye. P<0.05 for both the eyes. The prognosis of Corneal topography is also significant as t=3.75 for both eyes, hence p<0.05. Therefore, after completion of treatment, acceptance of glasses was in-creased significantly as t=3.17 for the right eye and 8.09 for the left eye, hence p<0.05.