AIM: To observe the clinical effects of traditional Chinese medicine combined with Western medicine for acute retinal artery occlusion(RAO) after a long time onset and to evaluate the treatment time window. METHODS: This retrospective study included 14 cases (15 eyes) with acute RAO, who received a combined modality therapy for 30 days, including conventional treatment, integrating traditional Chinese medicine and nerve cells restoration. The clinical data of visual acuity after treating 7 days, 14 days, 30 days and visual field pre-therapy and post-treatment were analyzed and evaluated. RESULTS: Thirteen cases(14 eyes)completed 14 days treatment, 11 cases(12 eyes)completed 30 days treatment. 11 eyes of 15 eyes(73.33%)at 7 days, 11 eyes of 14 eyes(78.57%)at 14 days, 11 eyes of 12 eyes(91.67%)at 30 days respectively gained significant vision improvement after treatment. Vision increased significantly after 7 days’ treatment compared with pre-therapy(P<0.01). The vision also increased significantly after 14 days’ treatment compared with 7 days’ and after 30 days’ treatment compared with 14 days’ respectively(P<0.05). 12 of 14 cases completed visual field(VF) examination, VF mean sensitivity after treatment had significant improvement than before treatment (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Synthetic therapies,including conventional treatment,integrating traditional Chinese medicine and nerve cells restoration are effective and available in RAO, especially when the retinal edema is exisent. So treatment opportunity should not be limited within 3 days of symptom onset instead of a longer time, even 60 days.