According to traditional Chinese medicine, psoriasis is always caused by deficiency of blood and blood, internalized blood-heat, dryness and wind, and loss of skin nourishment.
There are many methods for treating psoriasis in Chinese medicine, and the clinic needs to choose suitable internal and external treatment methods according to the characteristics of the skin lesions and changes in the course of the disease, and in combination with the patient’s physique, accompanying symptoms and tongue and pulse.
Next, we will talk about the external treatment method of TCM drugs, the external treatment method of TCM non-drugs and the internal treatment method of TCM respectively.
I. External treatment methods of Chinese medicine, including drug external treatment methods and non-drug external treatment methods
The external treatment method of TCM is guided by the overall concept of TCM and the theory of evidence-based treatment, using various methods to apply drugs directly to the surface of human body, penetrating through the skin and conducting through the meridians, exerting its functions of unblocking the meridians, harmonizing the qi and blood, detoxifying and eliminating blood stasis, and helping to remove the evil, so as to improve the local symptoms of the skin.
At present, the Chinese medicine external treatment method for psoriasis includes drug external treatment method and non-drug external treatment method, now let’s understand together.
1, drug external treatment method: this method, and includes five commonly used methods.
(1) Chinese medicine bath therapy: applicable to all stages of common psoriasis, but the rash has broken, oozing, or the rash is bright red and faster progress should not be used.
Patients with blood-heat type can use Dampi, Dandelion, Sulforaphane, Tu Fu Ling, Bitter Ginseng and Phellodendron.
For blood-dry type, chicken blood vine, angelica, white fresh peel, Sichuan pepper, Xu Changqing, and transverse bone herb can be used.
Blood stasis type can use angelica, peach kernel, safflower, salvia, trigonella, curcuma, Wang Bu Li Xing, etc.
(2) Chinese medicine fumigation therapy: it is applicable to the stationary and degenerative stage of common psoriasis and arthritic psoriasis.
Treatment should be carried out within 1~2 h after meals, and should not be operated on an empty stomach or after a full meal. The temperature is adjusted according to the patient’s tolerance, generally 38~45℃, as tolerated by the patient, and the fumigation time is 20 min.
Fumigation with water 2~3 times per week, 10 times as a course of treatment. Before and after the fumigation appropriate supplemental water, to prevent excessive sweating lead to deficiency.
(3) Chinese herbal drenching therapy: it can clear heat and detoxify, dispel wind and relieve itch, and is suitable for head psoriasis. The recommended composition of Chinese herbal medicine is Da Qing Ye, Bai Bai Ye, Mulberry Leaf, Soapberry, Forsythia, Salviae, Serpentine, etc.
(4) Chinese herbal medicine rubbing therapy: applicable to all types of psoriasis. For those with few and limited lesions, such as those with lesions accounting for less than 10% of the whole body area, topical medicine can be used for rubbing, mostly using creams and ointments, such as Zilian cream, Pulian cream, Qingdian oil cream, etc., which have the effects of clearing heat and detoxifying, cooling blood and activating blood circulation, moisturizing and relieving itching, which are conducive to clearing skin lesions, controlling symptoms and promoting skin barrier repair.
(5) Chinese medicine sealing package therapy: It is applicable to the resting stage and degenerative stage of common psoriasis and palmoplantar pustulosis, and the recommended drug is Chinese medicine ointment preparation for local skin lesion sealing package.
After taking appropriate amount of Pu Lian cream, Zi Lian cream or Qing Dai San oil cream, etc. and evenly rubbing the affected area, the package is sealed with cling film, loosely and tightly, 2 times/d. In summer, air permeability holes can be tied on the cling film, and the sealing time is about 1~2 h. It is appropriate to have hot and flushed feeling on the skin to facilitate the absorption of drugs.
2, non-drug external treatment methods: including fire needle therapy, acupuncture, blood cupping method, fire cupping therapy.
(1) Fire acupuncture therapy: It is suitable for those with blood stasis type of resting psoriasis as identified by traditional Chinese medicine, and excluding those who take long-term oral aspirin and other anticoagulants, blood system diseases and coagulation mechanism disorders.
It can effectively improve the hypertrophic scales of psoriasis lesions, reduce the area of lesions, and decrease the degree of itching, effectively improving the characteristics of patients whose lesions do not recede for a long time and are stubborn and difficult to heal, so it is worth promoting on a large scale.
(2) Acupuncture method: It is applicable to all stages of common psoriasis.
The specific method is: the patient takes a prone position, relaxes mentally, and fully exposes the back and the affected skin. After disinfecting the acupuncture points with 75% alcohol, the acupuncture points are acupunctured with milli-needles.
For the blood-heat type, take Dazhi and Quchi; for the blood-dry type, take Sanyinjiao and Taixi; for the blood-stasis type, take Blood Sea and Di Yu.
If the lesions are on the upper extremities, Hegu, Quchi, Hand Sanli and Waiguan can be added; if the lesions are on the scalp, Baihui and Fengchi can be added.
(3) Blood cupping method: It is applicable to those whose Chinese medical evidence of common psoriasis is blood stasis and blood heat.
The specific method is: after the acupuncture points are routinely disinfected, the points are punctured with a trigeminal needle for bleeding or tapped with a skin needle, and then the cupping jar is sucked and cupped on the punctured area to make it bleed, and the jar is left for 25 min.
The main acupuncture point is chosen 1~2 at a time, and the matching points can be used alternately.
Each time the fire can remove the blood stasis left after the spot can be applied externally to promote its elimination of blood stasis ointment.
(4) Fire canning therapy: it is suitable for those whose plaque psoriasis or common psoriasis is identified as blood stasis, especially for those whose skin lesions are located in the waist and thighs with full muscles. It can also be used for those with heat and toxicity in blood.
Pay attention to check whether the glass jar mouth is flat before surgery, and if it is broken, the glass jar should be replaced to avoid scratching the skin.
Chinese medicine internal treatment method
Chinese medicine mostly divides the main symptoms of psoriasis into three types: blood heat, blood dryness and blood stasis, among which blood heat is the most common. According to the diagnostic standards of Chinese medicine, the internal treatment methods for psoriasis are as follows.
1. Blood-heat evidence: the treatment is to clear heat, detoxify and cool the blood, using Rhizoma Dihuang Tang with addition and subtraction.
2, blood stasis: treatment to invigorate blood circulation, choose peach red four-item soup plus or minus; 3, blood dryness: treatment to activate blood circulation, choose peach red four-item soup plus or minus.
3. Blood dryness: to nourish blood, nourish yin and quench wind, using Siwu Tang and Sha Shen Mai Men Dong Tang with addition and subtraction.
Chinese medicine has better efficacy in treating psoriasis, but it must not be operated without authorization. It is necessary to seek the help of professional Chinese medicine practitioners in Chinese medicine hospitals, and at the same time, one must not listen to the prescriptions for treating psoriasis, so as not to aggravate the disease due to improper treatment.
References
[1]Cao Shiaoxiao,Xu Rong,Li Fulun,Li Feng,Chen Jie,Li Bin. Traditional Chinese medicine treatment of psoriasis [J]. Medical Review,2015,21(01):117-118.
[2]Li Mao Yu. 133 cases of psoriasis treated with traditional Chinese medicine [J]. China Health Care and Nutrition(Zhongjun),2012(06):352.
[3]Sun Ling,Qiu Xia. Advances in traditional Chinese medicine treatment of psoriasis[J]. Chinese healing medicine,2015,24(01):30-31.
[4]Liang Y,Han WL,Yu WQ,et al. Advances in Chinese medicine treatment of psoriasis [J] Journal of Modern Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine,2010,19(16):2073-2074.