Objective To compare the clinical efficacy of thumb-tack needle and sodium hyaluronate eye drops for dry eye. Methods A total of 60 patients with dry eye were randomly divided into a thumb-tack needle group and a western medication group

30 cases in each group. Based on Biaoben Genjie theory

thumb-tack needle was applied at Zhiyin（BL 67）

Lidui（ST 45）

Fuyang（BL 59）

Yanglao（SI 6）

Jingming（BL 1） and Cuanzhu（BL 2） in the thumb-tack needle group

2 times a week. In the western medication group

0.1% sodium hyaluronate eye drops were applied

3 times a day. Both groups were treated for 4 weeks. Before and after treatment

TCM symptom score

tear film break-up time（BUT）

SchirmerⅠtest（SⅠT）

corneal fluorescein sodium staining（FL） score and 36-item short form health survey（SF-36） score were observed

and the clinical efficacy was evaluated in the two groups. Results After treatment

the total scores and each item score of TCM symptom in the two groups were decreased compared with before treatment（P<0.05）; except for score of visual fatigue and photophobia

the total score and each item score of TCM symptom in the thumb-tack needle group were lower than the western medication group（P<0.05）. After treatment

the BUT

SⅠT and SF-36 scores were increased and the FL scores were decreased in the two groups（P<0.05）; the BUT

SⅠT and SF-36 score were higher than the western medication group（P<0.05）

and the FL score was lower than the western medication group（P<0.05） in the thumb-tack needle group. The total effective rate in the thumb-tack needle group was 93.3%（28/30）

which was higher than 80.0%（24/30） in the western medication group（P<0.05）. Conclusion Thumb-tack needle based on Biaoben Genjie theory could effectively relieve clinical symptoms of dry eye patients

prolong tear film break-up time

increase tear secretion

improve tear film function and quality of life

and its curative effect is better than sodium hyaluronate eye drops.