The underlying idea behind Traditional Chinese Medicine is that any disorder or illness is the result of a lack of harmony with the environment. This principle applies to the treatment of acne. The Western approach to acne would focus on the immediate cause of the lesions themselves. It would concern itself with the cleaning of pores or the killing of microorganisms that cause the infections. Chinese Medicine works on the assumption that the body can deal with blocked pores and with any type of infections by itself, and if it is failing to do so, it must be the result of some form of disharmony.
Both acupuncture and herbal remedies are used in Traditional Chinese Medicine to treat acne with herbal remedies being the more common method. The disharmony is thought to be heat on a Meridian Channel, or a Zang Fu organ, or even a fundamental substance. The removal of this ?heat? would free the energy flow and enable the body to clear the infection. Convention Medical treatments tend to be quicker and less troublesome for acne, but are often ineffective or have undesirable side effects. The Chinese method offers a more balanced and long term cure.
There are two methods of acupuncture normally used to treat acne. The first is designed to remove the ?heat? from the essential Meridian Channel. There are five different heat patterns that may be associated with the acne. They are lung heat, stomach heat, toxic heat, blood heat, and damp heat. Each separate pattern involves needle insertion at different points, and like many diagnoses in TCM requires a bit of trial and error to determine the actual cause. There is a second method used for treating the lesions themselves directly. It is called, ?surrounding the dragon? and involves needle insertion at local points in a circle around the actual lesion itself.
Herbal remedies are used more often and are generally more effective. They involve a mixture of internal and external applications. The internal herbal treatments are also directed toward the five possible points of disharmony, and once again a certain amount of trial and error is needed. The external treatments involve direct application of pastes and creams to the lesions themselves.
A history of the patient is indicated in the treatment, and may offer clues as to the most effective points for treatment. Factors involving diet and the overall health of the patient and the strengthening of his immune system would also be involved in the treatment plan under Chinese Medicine. Again, the idea is that acne is an unnatural condition and its presence indicates something has gone out of balance in the patient. The treatment would seek to restore the balance enabling the body to use its own resources to clear the acne.
