An Open Labelled Randomized Controlled Clinical Study To Evaluate The Efficacy Of Nagaradi Eye Ointment In The Management Of Pishtaka With Special Reference To Pinguecula.

The importance of Ayurveda in the global scenario is because of its holistic approach towards a positive lifestyle.

The study of disease is the study of man and his environmental factors; hence the key to man’s health lies largely in his environment. Much of man’s ill health can be traced to adverse environmental factors such as water pollution, soil pollution, air pollution, poor housing condition, presence of ignorance about the spread of diseases. The above mentioned factors are responsible for the Nidana or causes of the disease called Pistaka (Pinguecula). Acharya Susrutha has mentioned 76 eye diseases based on Videha Tantra.

Acharya Charaka has casually described according to Dosha, while Vagbhata, Bhavaprakasha, Sharangadhara, etc. have also described the eye diseases and their management with slight variation in the number of diseases and their sign and symptoms.

Now a days due to urbanization and very much changes in lifestyles and due to different causative factors like exposure to the sun, smoke, dust, heat, etc the disease Pistaka (Pinguecula) is very commonly seen.

Acharya Sushruta described Pistaka is one of the Shuklagata netrarogas. It is Kapha dosha predominant disease, it is Ousadha sadhya vyadhi

In Pistaka vyadhi shukla mandala is spread with white round and fresh papule nodular development, seen like whitish rice flour and fresh like water so it’s called as Pistaka.

Pingueculae are among the more common conjunctival disorders with prevalence rates ranging from 22.5% to 97%. Pingueculae are benign, white to yellow raised lesions which can sometimes have a lipid-like appearance. Pingueculae are typically located at the three and nine o’clock positions on the bulbar conjunctiva near the sclerocorneal junction but do not cross into the cornea.

In Astanga Hridaya Uttarsthana, Acharya Vagabhatta has mentioned it in.(A.H.U.10- Sandhisitasit-rogvidnyaniyam Adhyaya).

·         A Pinguecula (plural pingueculae) is an innocuous but extremely common asymptomatic elastotic degeneration of the conjunctival stroma. A yellow–white mound or aggregation of smaller mounds is seen on the bulbar conjunctiva adjacent to the limbus. Inflammation of Pinguecula is called as Pingueculitis. It is characterized by pain, redness, watering and foreign body sensation in eyes.

·         The cause is believed to be actinic damage, similar to the aetiology of pterygium, which pinguecula resembles histologically; the distinction is that the limbal barrier to extension has remained intact with a pinguecula, though transformation can occur.

(Kanski’s- Clinical Ophthalmology, By-Brad Bowling. Chapter-5-Conjunctiva, pg. no-162)