Your macula is an area of sensitive tissue on the back lining of your eye. Damage to the macula may result in macular degeneration, a condition that often results in blurring or complete loss of the central vision you rely on for daily activities such as driving. Treatments do not typically restore lost vision, and many people talk with their doctors about herbal treatments, such as eyebright tea wash, in hopes that the supplement will improve vision.
Cause
Macular degeneration occurs when the cells that make up the macular tissue start to break down -- the condition known as dry macular degeneration. This will slowly affect your central vision, often causing blurry vision, changes in color brightness and the need for more lighting, explains the University of Maryland Medical Center. Wet macular degeneration results when fragile, abnormal blood vessels grow under the macular tissue. These vessels often break, pooling fluid under the macula and lifting the tissue out of position. This often results in sudden vision loss or blurry vision. Many people may notice that objects they know consist of straight lines, such as telephone poles, suddenly appear bent or curved.
Eyebright
Eyebright is an herbal supplement also known as euphrasia. Some people use the extract from this small flowering plant to treat swollen eyelids, nasal congestion, coughs and eye fatigue. Fresh or dried eyebright can steep with hot water to form a tea, and once the tea cools, a person can use this as an eye wash. You should not use an herbal eye wash with eyebright or any other herb without first consulting with your doctor. Your macula is located on the inside, back of your eye, and an eye wash will not have any known benefit for treating macular degeneration. As well, an oral eyebright supplement does not have any known benefit on this condition.
Prevention
Medications and herbal supplements, such as eyebright, will not treat macular degeneration. Since treatments will not restore vision lost to macular degeneration, prevention is an important part of helping you to keep good vision. In a study called the Age-Related Eye Disease Study, researchers determined that certain nutrients could help prevent this vision-threatening condition. Important nutrients for prevention include vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E and zinc. Lutein and omega-3 fatty acids may also play a role in prevention, and researchers continue to study the effectiveness of these nutrients in prevention.
Considerations
If you want to try eyebright despite the indications that eyebright is not likely to have any effect on macular degeneration, you should first talk with your doctor about the possible risks. Eyebright may cause an allergic reaction, and if applied topically through an eye wash, this could result in surface irritation of your eye. Other symptoms may include vision changes, confusion, weakness, constipation or insomnia.
