Treatment of Eczema is Possible with Chinese Herbs and Acupuncture

Affecting about 15 million people in the United States, eczema is a skin disorder marked by dry, red, scaly skin patches that comes with severe itching. To treat the itching and inflammation medications such as corticosteroids are often used. However, these drugs come with nasty side effects such as weight gain, osteoporosis, high blood pressure, gastrointestinal problems, glaucoma, and cataracts. In lieu of medications, some people seek alternative types of treatment such as acupuncture therapy for the treatment of their eczema.

A study was conducted in Germany to see what type of treatment can produce the best results against eczema. Thirty people all with eczema participated in this study. They had the condition after being exposed pollen and dust mite allergens. The allergens caused severe symptoms and flare ups. The first treatment they received was “point-specific” acupuncture. This type of acupuncture directly treated the affected portions of the skin. The acupoints Hsuehai and Quchi were needled in this treatment. a placebo acupuncture type of treatment was next given and acupoints chosen during this phase of the study weren’t intended to relieve the itchiness. The final third treatment was zero treatment after exposure to the allergens.

Al the end of the study, all thirty patients showed a significant lessening of their itching after being treated. This result was much better than the ones seen in placebo acupuncture and zero treatment. In addition to that, there were interesting reports showing that when exposed a 2nd time to the allergen after being treated with “point-specific” acupuncture, the flare ups of the subjects were far less severe than before. This showed that a sustained improvement can be achieved after just a single point-specific acupuncture treatment. The conductors of the study concluded that using acupuncture at the correct acupoints can lead to a substantial lowering in type I hypersensitivity itch in patients suffering from atopic eczema.

Another study this time conducted in Palestine examined the usefulness of acupuncture combined with herbal medicine in the treatment of atopic dermatitis. The most common type of eczema is atopic dermatitis. The study used 20 subjects around the ages of 13 and 48 who were treated with acupuncture and herbs for twelve weeks three times a week. After the third, sixth, ninth of twelfth week, the patients were evaluated. After the end of the study, the subjects showed a 45% improvement of their itch. They also stated that their quality of life improved by as much as 40%. These findings led the researchers to believe that a combination of Chinese herbal therapy and acupuncture can indeed provide significant benefits in the treatment of eczema.

These results proved that there is a direct connection between the reduction of itch in eczema sufferers and the use of acupuncture and Chinese herbs as treatments in Orlando. The outcomes proved that there are other less and equally effective ways in treating eczema than potentially harmful prescription medications.