What is neurodermatitis

  Neurodermatitis is equivalent to psoriasis in Chinese medicine, and is a chronic pruritic skin disease with thick and firm skin like the skin of a cow. The clinical features: the lesions are mostly round or polygonal flat papules fused into patches, scratching hypertrophy, deepening furrows, elevated skin crests, forming moss-like changes, and paroxysmal pruritus.  The disease is initially caused by wind-damp-heat evil blocking the skin or mechanical stimulation such as hard collar and friction; the disease consumes yin and fluid for a long time, the blood is insufficient, blood deficiency produces wind and dryness, and the skin loses moistening and nourishment. Liver fire stagnation, emotional and mental disorders, depression, or stress and strain, heart fire on the inflammation, so that the qi and blood run out of duty, stagnation of the skin, every easy to become an important factor in the triggering, and to cause the disease repeated. Western medicine believes that the cause of this disease is unknown, mental tension, excessive fatigue, insomnia and scratching and other local stimuli are often the cause of this disease.  Clinical manifestations of the disease are most common in young and middle-aged people, but rare in the elderly and children. It occurs in the neck, upper eyelids, and often in the wrist, elbow fossa, femur, lumbosacral area, ankle, female pubic area, scrotum and perianal area, and is mostly confined to one or both sides symmetrically distributed. The lesions are often localized and itchy, and after constant scratching or rubbing, they appear in clusters of round or polygonal flat papules, which are skin-colored or light brown. The lesions gradually fuse into moss-like patches with clear borders. Scattered flat papules can be seen around the lesions. Paroxysmal pruritus is felt, often intensified by local irritation, mental irritability, and obvious at night; scratch marks or blood crusts are common in and around the lesions. The course of the disease is chronic and does not heal over the years or is recurrent.