Watery Eyes

Watery Eyes Introduction:

You may experience watery eyes (technically called epiphora) when your eyes produce too many tears.  While tears are necessary to protect your eyes and keep them healthy, too many tears can cause problems.  An excessive volume of tears can overwhelm our tear ducts and lead to watery eyes.  Read on to find out more about watery eyes and how Chinese Medicine can help you treat them.

Why Do My Eyes Water?

There are many different factors that could be causing your eyes to water.  Some of these factors include:

  • Foreign objects in your eye
  • Obstructed tear ducts
  • Injuries
  • Allergies
  • Infection
  • Inflammation
  • Changes in the structure or function of your eyelid 
  • Dry eyes
  • Exposure to the sun or wind
  • Too much screen time
  • Medications such as blood pressure drugs, chemotherapy drugs, eyedrops, and steroids
watery eyes

Symptoms of Watery Eyes:

Watery eyes can range from slightly watery, to an excessive overproduction of tears.  The condition may also be accompanied by other symptoms such as:

  • Sore or red eyes
  • Enlarged blood vessels
  • Sharp pains in your eyes
  • Swollen eyelids or eye area
  • Blurred vision 
  • Sensitivity to light

How Can Chinese Medicine Help?

Traditional Chinese medicine is known for greatly improving many eye conditions and inconveniences.  In contrast to many mainstream treatment options, Chinese Medicine heals your body by addressing underlying health issues.  A common problem that many of us have (although we may not realise it), is an imbalance in the energy of our organs.  All the organs in our bodies are important, and they all work together to maintain the health of the whole body.  Since our organs are all connected, imbalances in one organ can lead to symptoms in other parts of the body.

watery eyes

For example, the liver and gallbladder maintain the joints, nerves, and detoxification system.  However, these important organs also help to maintain eye health.  So, in order to heal eye problems like epiphora, your Chinese Medicine practitioner will first need to make sure your liver and gallbladder are functioning properly.  

Chinese Medicine practitioners use natural and effective techniques like acupuncture, acupressure, and Chinese herbal medicines to treat the root cause of health problems.  Acupuncture especially has been recognised as a beneficial method of treating watery eyes.  In fact, a group of researchers “…have treated 34 cases of epiphora due to dysfunction of the lacrimal duct with a warm needle puncturing at the Jingming (UB 1) point. The effect was significantly better than that of the control group treated with lacrimal duct irrigation and norflaxacin eye drops (a total effective rate of 91.07% vs. 54.29%).”

For more information about Chinese Medicine and eye problems, click here.

Conclusion:

Overall, epiphora or watery eyes occur when your eyes produce too many tears.  This can be due to factors such as injuries, sun or wind, or problems with your eyelid.  Chinese Medicine is an effective and natural way to treat watery eyes, as it gets to the heart of the problem.

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Centre of Balance: Acupuncture & Chinese Medicine (n.d.). Archive for category: Acupuncture for Eye Problems. https://balancetcm.co.nz/category/acupuncture-for-eye-problems/

Centre of Balance: Acupuncture & Chinese Medicine (n.d.).  Would You Like to Experience More Energy, & Less Stress & Pain? https://balancetcm.co.nz/

Iftikhar, N. (2018, June 26). What Causes Watering Eyes (Epiphora)? Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/health/epiphora

Ni, Y., Shi, W., Xu, X., & Wang, J. (2002). Acupuncture treatment for 34 cases of epiphora with dysfunction of lacrimal duct. Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine = Chung i tsa chih ying wen pan, 22(1), 31–32.  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11977517/#:~:text=We%20have%20treated%2034%20cases,54.29%25).

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Monica

I am originally from Hebei province in China. I hold a NZ bachelor’s degree of health and science with a major in acupuncture. I am honoured to be an acupuncturist at Centre of Balance. Helping patients to alleviate their pain brings me the greatest joy. Chinese medicine emphasises the unity of human beings and nature. During the treatment, I hope to not only relieve your pain but also help you to understand the principles behind acupuncture’s effectiveness, as well as the significant impact of diet, emotions, lifestyle habits, and living environments on disease recovery. Self-healing is an ability that our bodies are naturally endowed with.

I studied acupuncture in New Zealand and completed one and a half years of supervised clinical internship before graduating. In the early stage of my training, I mainly worked with patients experiencing neck, shoulder, and lower back pain. Under the guidance of senior clinical tutors, I gradually developed hands-on experience and confidence in treating musculoskeletal pain conditions.
As my clinical exposure expanded, I began treating a wider range of internal conditions. Alongside traditional acupuncture, I was introduced to Umbilical Acupuncture and Tungs-acupuncture Points. What interested me most about these approaches is that they often do not require needling directly at the painful area, yet can still achieve very effective results.
I was especially inspired by observing my supervisor use Umbilical Acupuncture to treat common conditions such as insomnia, menstrual irregularities, and even rheumatoid arthritis, with very positive outcomes. Another supervisor was highly skilled in Tungs-acupuncture Points and achieved excellent results in treating pain, infertility, menstrual disorders, and a variety of women’s health conditions. After completing my studies and entering clinical practice, once I observed Dr. Szenan Phua using Tungs-acupuncture points to help cancer patients relieve pain, which further strengthened my trust in this treatment method.
I later completed training in Dr. Tan Balance Acupuncture, which had a strong influence on the way I approach treatment. One of the most noticeable features of this method is how quickly patients often feel improvement, especially with pain conditions. Dr. Szenan Phua’s New Balance Acupuncture combines meridian regulation with structural adjustment and internal organ balancing, including techniques such as pulse balancing and spinal adjustment.
From my clinical experience, pain is rarely just a local issue. It often involves underlying organ weakness or structural imbalance. When these aspects are addressed together, treatment can be more thorough and longer-lasting. I also apply this approach to internal conditions, particularly in fertility and women’s health. This includes supporting natural conception, IVF preparation and embryo transfer, pregnancy support, early-pregnancy nausea, and late-pregnancy labour induction. I combine these treatments with concepts learned from a few additional fertility training, which has given me a broader and more flexible clinical perspective. This has reinforced my belief that acupuncture should be adapted to each individual rather than applied through fixed formulas.
Two other areas of study that have been very helpful in my clinical work are Tongue Diagnosis and Dr. Zhu’s Scalp Acupuncture. Although tongue diagnosis is taught in my standard Chinese medicine training, further study allowed me to deepen and refine my diagnostic skills.
My first formal training was in Li’s Tongue Diagnosis, which looks not only at organ patterns, but also at how different areas of the tongue reflect the body’s structure. This system also explores personality traits and changes during pregnancy, making it both clinically useful and engaging. I later attended online lectures on Yin’s Tongue Diagnosis and studied the related materials independently. this learning has helped me make clearer and more accurate pattern differentiation, allowing my acupuncture treatments to be more targeted. It covers a wide range of conditions, including skin disorders, oncology-related presentations, mental health patterns, and joint or limb problems. In practice, tongue observation often provides valuable insight even before a patient begins describing their symptoms.
In addition to the methods above, I regularly use local bloodletting techniques, which can be very effective for improving circulation, reducing swelling, and relieving pain. I also incorporate auricular (ear) acupressure and stimulation, which I commonly use for allergies, insomnia, headaches, stress management, and various internal conditions.
In my clinical work, I value taking the time to listen carefully to each patient and to understand their overall health, lifestyle, and concerns. Based on each individual’s condition, I also provide personalised dietary guidance and lifestyle or wellness advice to support overall health and long-term wellbeing. I commonly support patients with musculoskeletal pain, such as neck, shoulder, knee, and back pain, as well as stress-related conditions, sleep issues, migraines, digestive concerns, and women’s health and fertility-related conditions.