Skin Problems and Chinese Medicine

Your skin is more than just the outer layer of the body. From a Chinese medical perspective, it provides a critical measure of your body's health, even informing us on what is happening at a deep level, and provides the acupuncturist with much information about how well balanced the client is.

In addition to being a diagnostic tool, acupuncturists treat a wide variety of specific dermatological complaints running the gamut from acne and wrinkles, to severe psoriasis and eczema.

A brief overview of Chinese medicine and the sorts of dermatological problems we treat on a regular basis can be read here.

Here is a reprint of that article here:

Treatment of Skin Conditions with Acupuncture
By: Diane Joswick L.Ac.

Acupuncture and Oriental medicine can be very effective at treating skin conditions. Treatments can provide quick relief for acute symptoms and significant and lasting relief from recurrent or chronic skin conditions.

The skin reflects and reacts to imbalances within the body's internal landscape and the effects of the environment. Internal disharmonies caused by strong emotions, diet, and your constitution, as well as environmental influences such as wind, dryness, dampness, and heat, can all contribute to the development of a skin disorder. To keep your skin healthy and beautiful on the outside, you must work on the inside of your body as well. Increasing the flow of energy, blood and lymph circulation improves the skin's natural healthy color.

Promotion of collagen production increases muscle tone and elasticity, helping to firm the skin. Stimulating the formation of body fluids nourishes the skin and encourages it to be moister, softer, smoother and more lustrous.

General skin conditions that can be treated with acupuncture and Oriental medicine include acne, dermatitis, eczema, pruritus, psoriasis, rosacea, shingles and urticaria (hives). Oriental medicine does not recognize skin problems as one particular syndrome. Instead, it aims to treat the specific symptoms that are unique to each individual using a variety of techniques with acupuncture, such as herbal medicine, bodywork, lifestyle/dietary recommendations and energetic exercises to restore imbalances found in the body. Therefore, if 10 patients are treated with Oriental medicine for eczema, each patient will receive a unique, customized treatment with different lifestyle and dietary recommendations.