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    Acupuncture Clears Skin Conditions

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    Carleta Stan
    University of California doctors reviewed 24 studies on acupuncture for skin conditions. They found that acupuncture was more effective than placebo or no treatment in 17 studies for various conditions like dermatitis, hives, melasma, itching, and excessive sweating. The studies showed acupuncture reduced inflammation, cleared skin lesions, and alleviated symptoms. The doctors concluded acupuncture may be an effective alternative treatment for several dermatological conditions.

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    Acupuncture Clears Skin Conditions

    Uploaded by

    Carleta Stan
    160 views4 pages
    University of California doctors reviewed 24 studies on acupuncture for skin conditions. They found that acupuncture was more effective than placebo or no treatment in 17 studies for various conditions like dermatitis, hives, melasma, itching, and excessive sweating. The studies showed acupuncture reduced inflammation, cleared skin lesions, and alleviated symptoms. The doctors concluded acupuncture may be an effective alternative treatment for several dermatological conditions.

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    Acupuncture Clears Skin Conditions

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    University of California doctors reviewed 24 studies on acupuncture for skin conditions. They found that acupuncture was more effective than placebo or no treatment in 17 studies for various conditions like dermatitis, hives, melasma, itching, and excessive sweating. The studies showed acupuncture reduced inflammation, cleared skin lesions, and alleviated symptoms. The doctors concluded acupuncture may be an effective alternative treatment for several dermatological conditions.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    160 views4 pages

    Acupuncture Clears Skin Conditions

    Uploaded by

    Carleta Stan
    University of California doctors reviewed 24 studies on acupuncture for skin conditions. They found that acupuncture was more effective than placebo or no treatment in 17 studies for various conditions like dermatitis, hives, melasma, itching, and excessive sweating. The studies showed acupuncture reduced inflammation, cleared skin lesions, and alleviated symptoms. The doctors concluded acupuncture may be an effective alternative treatment for several dermatological conditions.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
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    At a glance
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    The review found that acupuncture showed statistically significant improvements over other treatments or no treatment for various skin conditions in 17 out of 24 studies.

    The studies found acupuncture improved outcomes for dermatitis, urticaria, chloasma, pruritus, and hyperhidrosis.

    The doctors proposed that acupuncture may work through neuromodulation of the immune system and involvement of the autonomic nervous system and HPA axis, decreasing pro-inflammatory cytokines.

    Acupuncture Clears Skin Conditions

    05 JULY 2015
    University of California doctors find acupuncture improves patient
    outcomes for the treatment of skin disorders including dermatitis, urticaria,
    chloasma, pruritus, and hyperhidrosis. A total of 17 out of 24 studies
    demonstrated that “acupuncture showed statistically significant
    improvements in outcome measurements compared with placebo
    acupuncture, alternative treatment options, and no

    intervention.” The doctors


    conclude that “the findings of this review reveal that acupuncture may
    improve outcome measures in the treatment of multiple dermatologic
    conditions, including dermatitis, chloasma, pruritus, urticaria, hyperhidrosis,
    and facial elasticity.”
    Based on the meta-analysis the doctors note, “The results of this review
    support acupuncture as an alternative therapy in dermatology, with 17 of
    24 studies showing statistically significant improvement in outcome
    measures compared with no intervention or other treatment options.” The
    doctors add, “acupuncture improved outcome measures statistically
    significantly more than placebo acupuncture, suggesting possible merit in
    the traditional theory of acupoints on meridians.”
    Doctors from the Department of Dermatology at the University of
    California, Davis (Sacramento) reviewed 1,225 dermatology related
    investigations and narrowed the field to 24 studies meeting the inclusion
    criteria. Only articles written in English were accepted. All studies using
    electroacupuncture and moxibustion were excluded. Only manual
    acupuncture studies were allowed. The doctors note, “Our search was also
    limited to studies published in the English language, which excludes many
    studies performed in China, where acupuncture is more prevalent and
    widely studied.”
    All 6 of the atopic dermatitis studies showed statistically significant
    improvements in patient outcomes. The studies compared acupuncture
    intervention with either a placebo control group or no intervention. The
    mean wheal or skin flare size were significantly reduced in 3 studies. A
    wheal is a circumscribed papule or plaque of edema of the skin.
    Acupuncture significantly reduced both the “rate and duration of urticarial
    episodes” in a randomized controlled trial using placebo controls. Another
    randomized controlled trial found acupuncture more effective for clearing
    wheals than oral antihistamines. An observational study found acupuncture
    effective for prolonging the time between urticaria relapses and “showed
    complete clearance of wheals in 25.8% of patients….” An additional 3
    randomized controlled trials and 1 case report found acupuncture effective
    in alleviating pruritus.
    Acupuncture was found effective in the treatment of chloasma. Also
    referred to as melasma, chloasma is a type of hyperpigmentation of the
    skin. This may occur during pregnancy in the form of brown patches on the
    face. A randomized controlled trial found acupuncture combined with
    herbal medicine more effective than vitamin C and E intake for the
    “clearance of chloasma.” Another study documents that acupuncture
    cleared greater than 90% of chloasma in 40% of patients. A greater than
    30% clearance was found in 87% of patients.
    Additional research found acupuncture effective for the treatment of breast
    inflammation, HPV warts, polyhidrosis, and facial elasticity conditions. In a
    Swedish randomized controlled trial of 205 breastfeeding women,
    acupuncture “significantly alleviated breast erythema, tension and pain
    compared with oxytocin spray alone.” Another study found acupuncture
    effective in the treatment of hyperhidrosis with significant reductions in
    sweating greater than a control using the drug estazolam. In a case report
    of an HIV patient with a chronic HPV wart that was resistant to cryotherapy,
    acupuncture cleared the wart. This was accomplished with 58 acupuncture
    treatments over a period of 19

    months.
    The doctors investigated possible mechanisms for the efficaciousness of
    acupuncture in terms of a biomedical model of understanding. They note
    that acupuncture may be involved in “neuromodulation of the immune
    system in mediating the pathogeneses of inflammatory and infectious skin
    conditions, such as acne, dermatitis, urticaria, and HPV. Studies on rats have
    shown decreased levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines— including tumor
    necrosis factor-a, interleukin-1b, and interleukin-6—after stimulation with
    acupuncture.” The investigators add, “Modern investigations into possible
    mechanisms of acupuncture have mixed results on the validity of meridians,
    but consistent across studies is involvement of the autonomic nervous
    system and hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, recruited via
    peripheral sensory receptors.”
    The meta-analysis demonstrates acupuncture’s potential for the treatment
    of dermatological conditions in achieving positive patient outcomes. The
    integration of acupuncture into standard protocols of care in the United
    States and many other nations has yet to be implemented. The University of
    California doctors suggest additional research to determine the
    mechanisms of acupuncture’s effective actions. Additionally, more research
    is suggested to provide clinical guidelines for clinicians and to determine
    efficacy rates.
    About Us
    The Healthcare Medicine Institute (HealthCMi) publishes acupuncture and
    herbal medicine news and research. HealthCMi also provides acupuncture
    continuing education online courses for CEU and NCCAOM PDA credit.
    Take a look at our article on dermatology and Chinese medicine dietetics.
    This details how food treatments help to clear eczema, hives, rashes, and
    acne. For greater detail, take a look at the online courses Chinese Medicine
    Dietetics #1 and Chinese Medicine Dietetic Remedies.

    References:
    Ma, Chelsea, and Raja K. Sivamani. "Acupuncture as a Treatment Modality in
    Dermatology: A Systematic Review." The Journal of Alternative and
    Complementary Medicine (2015). Department of Dermatology, University of
    California, Davis, Sacramento, CA.
    Longhurst JC. Defining meridians: a modern basis of understanding. J
    Acupunct Meridian Stud 2010;3:67–74.
    Tan EK, Millington GW, Levell NJ. Acupuncture in dermatology: an historical
    perspective. Int J Dermatol 2009; 48:648–652.
    Pfab F, Kirchner MT, Huss-Marp J, et al. Acupuncture compared with oral
    antihistamine for type I hypersensitivity itch and skin response in adults
    with atopic dermatitis: a patient- and examiner-blinded, randomized,
    placebo-controlled, crossover trial. Allergy 2012;67:566–573.
    Yun Y, Kim S, Kim M, Kim K, Park JS, Choi I. Effect of facial cosmetic
    acupuncture on facial elasticity: an open- label, single-arm pilot study.
    Evidence Based Complement Alternat Med 2013;2013:424313.

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