6 Steps to Healthier Skin Through Chinese Medicine
By Alexa Gilmore, LAc., MAcOM I
t is estimated that 1 in 5 of all outpa- tient visits to doctors in the United States are dermatological in nature.
That’s 20% of all doctor’s visits—that’s a lot of skin complaints! Many people are seeking treatment for skin disorders, and dermatologists are swamped. I regularly hear reports of patients waiting upwards of three months for an appointment, and yet, unfortu- nately, Western medicine is often un- able to offer satisfactory treatments that are both safe and effective over the long term. Some treatments work for a period of time, only to then plateau or decline in efficacy. Other treatments are effec- tive until they’re discontinued, at which point some patients—particularly those on a regimen of steroids—experience a flare-up of their condition worse than it was prior to any treatment at all. Some patients are persistently unresponsive to treatment. And still others are desperate for relief but hesitant to pursue Western interventions due to concerns about the long-term impact of steroids, birth control pills, antibiotics, immune-suppressants, and other strong pharmaceuticals on their broader health. The good news is that a safe, effec-
tive alternative can be found in Chinese medicine. As a practitioner of Chinese medicine specializing in dermatology, I believe Chinese herbal medicine offers the best overall treatment. Here’s a little view into why:
6 Essential Living Maine ~ August 2014 1. Chinese medicine treats the indi- vidual
In Western medicine, treatment is often administered based on the sever- ity of the disease. The worse the case the stronger the drug. Chinese herbal medi- cine considers severity a factor, but it’s the details of each individual case that determine the best treatment plan. What areas of the body are affected? Is there swelling, edema, or any exudate? What color are the lesions (Red-ish? Brown-ish? Purple-ish? Orange-ish?) Do they itch? How much and when? In a case of acne, for example, we’d consider the concen- tration of blackheads vs. whiteheads vs. cysts. How greasy is the face? How much background redness underlies the lesions? All of these details matter a great deal
when constructing an herbal formulation specific to an individual patient. Additionally, Chinese herbalists look at your whole health picture. How’s your digestion? Your sleep? Your menstrual cycle? Are you young and vibrant or old and tired? Are there other lifestyle factors involved, like drinking, smoking, diet, or stress? This broader picture helps deter- mine what Chinese medicine calls “pat- terns of imbalance.” Treatment specifi- cally targets each of these patterns and, as they change and evolve, herbal treatment evolves too.
2. Chinese medicine has a proven
track record—of several thousand years I like to say that Chinese medicine
isn’t good because it’s old; it’s old be- cause it’s good. I chuckle a little when people insinuate that acupuncture and Chinese medicine are “experimental.” Chinese medicine wouldn’t persist a couple thousand years after its inception if it didn’t continue to be relevant and effective. It’s been the primary medicine for billions of people in thriving, evolving cultures for all of those centuries. Discus- sions of the skin and skin diseases can be found in the earliest Chinese medical text books. Differentiations between differ- ent skin diseases have been delineated for much of that time, as have detailed discussions on effective treatment ap- proaches. Psoriasis was known as song pi xuan (pine skin dermatosis), bai bi (white dagger sore), and wan xuan (stubborn dermatosis); acne as fen ci (white thorns) or jiu ci (wine thorns); eczema as si wan feng (wind of the four crooks) or wan shi (stubborn dampness). When you choose Chinese medicine, you choose a compre- hensive system of medicine that’s been studied, deepened, and expanded upon for millennia by the brightest medical minds of the Eastern (and, more recently, of the West, as well). That’s a whole lot of brainpower and clinical trial and error on your side.
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