Thygeson’s Disease Treated with Homeopathy

Thygeson’s Superficial Punctate Keratopathy/Keratitis

It is a bilateral disease of the eyes, where lumps are formed on the cornea with the following syndrome –

• Pain
• Dryness
• Sensation of foreign body in eyes
• Photophobia
• Redness
• Blurry vision

The suspected causes are genetic/unknown/autoimmune.

Topical steroid, artificial tears for lubrication purpose, antibiotics, ant-inflammatory drugs, pain killers and laser surgery are the conventional means of management, depending upon the severity of the symptoms.

High intra ocular pressure is a very important clinical sign in diagnosing and this should not be overlooked, even in further management of the case for prognosis.

A CASE OF THYGESON’S SYNDROME TREATED WITH HOMEOPATHY

A French male in his 50’s came in person to see me looking for some good homeopathic topical medicine as an alternative to topical steroids which were prescribed to him by an ophthalmologist for the treatment of Thygeson’s disease.

His complexion was pink, but a little on the darker side, probably due to tanning of skin from exposure to sun. He also had hemangioma on the left side of his face and lips.

He came quite earlier than the scheduled appointment time and waited patiently till called in. He looked cheerful but a little worried and more confused regarding the status of his eyes. He said that if he could be helped with homeopathy he would be very happy, as he was reluctant to put topical steroids into his eyes for its known side effects. When I explained the process, he was easily convinced to use the classical approach and not use any topical homeopathic product.

He was quite cooperative during consultation. Though surprised on some questions asked by me, like cravings, aversions, dreams etc. (how could they have any relevance to his eye problems), he showed faith in what I was doing. In fact, he kept assuring me that even if he was not benefited after taking my course of treatment, he would not mind and would then try Ayurvedic medicines.

He was smiling and laughing throughout the whole conversation, even when talking about his problems. His positive attitude towards life was obvious in the way he was communicating. Though I had finished with formal data taking, I had not found any striking characteristics to decide his prescription, except that the pain in his eyes was better by applying cold water and worse by slightest movement of eyes and slightest touch. The pain was much better with the help of pain killers though. His main concern now was to preserve his vision. Two remedies came up on seeing the rubric – Eyes, pain, application cold, ameliorates, but I was not sure, as the totality was yet incomplete. My search engine was already looking for anything seeming peculiar and my focus was on why this gentleman kept saying that even if he is not benefited, he is happy.

I was all the more surprised when he related that his right eye had no vision since childhood, due to some genetic birth defect. It wasn’t that he was not worried about his eyes, otherwise he would not think so much for using topical steroids and he would not have come all the way from Thailand where he was currently living, to Singapore searching for a Homeopath. He had found my website online and straight away flew from Thailand to Singapore. Why? He was slowly losing his vision and it was not a joke for him obviously. He kept asking, what is the scope of getting my normal vision back and how long will it take. When I told him that he should give three months to Homeopathy, he put total faith in my words and promised he would follow my advice for three months at least.

A Frenchman leaves his mother-nation and decides to live in an Asian country, seeking a peaceful life near the sea and a tropical climate -no family, no friends, no society. After migrating to Thailand, he spends almost 3 years in leisure without bothering to making money or doing any kind of physical activity. After spending three years he gets bored and thinks of doing something to pass the time. Being a farmer by occupation, he thinks of buying land and starting a farming business. He buys a big tract of land. So now, there is a need to hire some workers, as he alone cannot work in such a big field. He regrets this later, as he finds it very difficult to deal with stubborn and uneducated local people. He himself has to finish the work left half done by those workers. He realizes his mistake and decides to sell the land once the year is over. Working in a very bright sun without sun glasses hurts his eyes and he ends up getting Thygeson’s disease. The right eye has no vision since birth and now the left eye vision also starts becoming blurry. He cannot read, cannot recognize different colors, cannot drive. His eyes are very painful with lots of dryness, itching, redness and sometimes become very congested and bloody. The sensation of foreign body or sand particles in the eyes makes him highly uncomfortable. The intra-occular pressure are 14 mmHg in right and 15 mmHg in the left eye.

He now regularly visits the hospital to consult an ophthalmologist and gets his eyes checked and follows the treatment. The pain and redness are very much less with the help of pain killers, anti-inflammatory drugs and antibiotics, but blurring of vision is the same. Finally he is prescribed topical steroids, which he thinks could be harmful over a long period and he decides to go for some natural topical medicine. He goes to Singapore to see me.

This was the story of this patient. I became sure that he meant something else when he said that even if he does not get benefit with Homeopathy it is okay and he will try something else. A definitely positive and hopeful nature, but this cannot be the sole ground to decide a remedy. Going merely by personality is dangerous I feel. I asked him why he gave this response. He said when he was visiting the hospital to see the ophthalmologist, he used to come across other patients suffering from various illnesses much more worst than his. This would give him some assurance that his condition is not that bad. At least he still has options to resolve it, whereas there are so many other people whose ailments are incurable. This conversation was helpful as it revealed a part of his sensitivity. My next question was – Tell me something about your emotions and sensitivity. He said he is not a very emotional or sensitive kind of person. I asked him in a different manner what happens to him when he sees anybody suffering. He said he is sensitive to looking at anybody suffering specially anybody bleeding. He cannot look at blood and he described one episode when he had fainted looking at somebody injured and bleeding. He feels the same pain.

I asked him if he has any fears, and what an immediate, spontaneous, specific to the point answer I received. I am fearful of any kind of pain. I just cannot take any kind of pain in any of part of my body.

“There he is”, I said to myself. I was now sure what I was going to prescribe between two remedies which I saw in the rubric – Eyes, pain, cold application ameliorates. So, I asked him a final and very specific question, but without leading him. I just showed him a sharp, pointed needle and he started laughing loudly. He said he is afraid of injection and could not even think of taking injection into his skin. He described an incident when he was scared of taking a local anaesthesia injection while going for a surgery for big warts on his left palm and left foot. He decided to go for laser surgery for it and also for the hemangioma on the left side of his face and lips.

I warned him not to go for any kind of surgery or laser treatment now and strictly no to go for laser treatment on his eyes. I prescribed a remedy and asked him to follow up with me after a week by e-mail.

It has been more than 3 months and he is following up with me through e-mails. There is absolutely no pain in his eyes and they feel much more comfortable than before. Symptoms of itching, redness, congestion, dryness and foreign body sensation are gone. Intraocular pressure is normal at 12 mmHg in right and 13 mmHg in left. According to his ophthalmologist, the numbers of Thygeson’s spots on the cornea is also reduced. Most importantly, his vision is almost clear, except a little blur for close distance only when he does not wear glasses. Driving distance and medium distance vision is absolutely clear and he does not have to wear glasses. Close distance vision or vision while reading is only a little blurry without glasses and clear with glasses. In one e-mail he also mentioned that he felt his hemangioma has regressed a little with the remedy. The warts which he had removed with laser treatment came back two weeks after starting the remedy. In the latest e-mail he expressed his satisfaction with homeopathic treatment, writing that he consulted two different Ophthalmologists for his ailments but none of them could give him a satisfactory treatment. His pain, discomfort everything is gone. Thygeson’s spots have been reduced to almost nil, intra-ocular pressure is normal and the most important thing, he is happy about improvement in his vision.

I am sure all readers must have got the idea about the remedy. Yes of course it is ‘ Pink root ‘, Spigelia anthelmia from the Loganiaceae family.

• Marked affinity for left side
• Ciliary neuralgia with severe stabbing pain in eyes
• Marked aggravation from sun, motion, touch.
• Better from cold application.
• Most important key note symptom of Spigellia is fear of sharp, pointed needles.

This is suggestive of hypersensitivity and intolerance to physical pain, which this patient described so beautifully. The other remedy for cold application ameliorates is Pulsatilla. But the prescription of Spigelia looked more accurate owing to the presence of its keynote symptom: fear of sharp, pointed needles.