Chinese Herbal Medicine for skin disorders / case study

The treatment of skin disorders such as eczema, psoriasis, and acne can be difficult. Multiple factors contribute to these disorders including gut health, environmental toxins, and emotional state. The Western treatment alternatives are not great, they include antihistamines, medicated creams, ointments, and antibiotics. If the condition is present for a long time, the Chinese Herbal Treatment can take longer, anywhere from a month to 3 months or sometimes even a year. But I wanted to share a case study of a stubborn case being resolved after one and half months of taking the Chinese Custom Formula.

The patient is a 72-year-old female who started treatments last year for ongoing skin issues and also right hip pain which was resolved with acupuncture. She had been having eczema in her hands, especially in her thumbs for over 20 years. Every winter it gets worse with dry, cracking skin, sometimes bleeding. Her thumbs felt painful when she moved them. Initially, she was diagnosed with eczema, right before the pandemic she saw the dermatologist and was told that she had psoriasis, when she went to see the dermatologist last year, even though the inflammation markers were not high, she was told that she has psoriatic arthritis but was not prescribed medicine for it except the skin creams which did not help her.

You can see the patient’s right thumb picture before the treatment, it was dry and cracking, with some blood streaks visible. They were itchy and painful.

The patient has a hard time sweating even with exercise, during winter she has layers but she does not feel particularly cold or warm. She had a lung tumor and oophorectomy years ago. Her bowels, digestion, and urination are normal, she at times experiences dry mouth at night. During the winter months, she tends to feel more depressed and anxious when she does not get enough exercise. When she is stressed and anxious, she can get nightmares.

Her pulses were tight, especially r cun tight. L guan was slippery/ tight.

She was given a classical formula Ma Huang Lian Qiao Chi Xiao Dou Tang in powder form for 1.5 months, 10 grams a day, 5 days on, 2 days off regimen. After two weeks of taking the formula, skin lesions started to heal and after 1.5 months they were completely healed. The formula was discontinued and after five months, the skin is still doing well and the patient is very happy about the result.

Questions?

If you have any questions regarding your herbal formula you can contact us at info@felekacupuncture.com.

If you’re interested in working with Dr. Özben to get your own custom herbal formula, you can schedule Herbal Telehealth appointments online here.