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Acne Experience
Facts on Acne
Who's at Risk?
Western Treatments
Chinese Approach
East meets West
Acne Formula
Toxicology
Diet and Acne
Acne Images
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My Chinese Experience
It was when I repeatedly found conventional Western treatments of acne ineffective that I turned to alternative ways of treatment. Among them, Chinese herbal medicine is the one I spent the most time and money on. After similarly disappointing results, I ended up being a private experimenter and student of Chinese herbs. It has been a long journey that lasted over 10 years, and still counting. Initially, I've found the Chinese approach unscientific but intriguing. The more I learned, though, the more intriguing and fascinating it has become.
A striking example of the unscientific theory of traditional Chinese medicine is its exclusion of the brain from the five zang and six fu system of bodily organs. The brain is included, sort of in passing, as part of the so-called "fu of qi-heng", the third level of importance among the organs. Most of the functions of the brain, when they are explained, are categorized into the confines of that of the heart.
Despite its antique theory and many of the unexplainables, traditional Chinese medicine heals, though not always, but often enough that it has been accepted as one of the major medical systems in the world.
Among the noted unexplainables is the theory of the channels and collaterals. Modern medicine still cannot explain and "see" the channels and collaterals the Chinese draws on our body, of which has been the theory that acupuncture is based upon.
By applying needles onto certain acupoints along the channels and collaterals of the body, the Chinese has been able to cure flu, bronchial asthma, constipation, hypertension, impotence, muscle sprain, headache, simple obesity, among others. Enough people have been cured by acupuncture, qigong and herbal medicine that we simply cannot dismiss it as fad.
What is Traditional Chinese Medicine?
Fad it certainly is not. Traditional Chinese medicine has been developed in China for about 2,500 years. The term "Chinese medicine" makes reference to a number of practices, especially acupuncture and prescription of herbal formulas.
A view of nature--and of health and disease--was set forth in the concepts of two essential forces--Yin (female) and Yang (male). They were further developed into other numbered concepts: three fundamental substances, five elements, six environmental forces, seven emotional factors, eight principal symptoms, twelve internal organs, fourteen meridians, and other notions.
While bacteria and viruses are considered the primary causes of diseases in Western medicine; in traditional Chinese medicine, diseases are assumed to be caused mainly by the six external environmental forces, namely: wind, cold, summer heat, dampness, dryness, and fire. When an environmental force causes a disease, it becomes the underlying imbalance responsible for that disease.
One of the major assumptions inherent in traditional Chinese medicine is that disease is looked upon as a loss of balance of Yin and Yang. Thus, in Chinese medicine, a physician will treat the underlying imbalance, not the disease. Herbal medicines are the prevalent tools used by Chinese physicians to reestablish the balance of Yin and Yang, returning the body to a healthy state.
What does Chinese Herbal Formula do?
At the beginning, diseases were cured by the application of individual herbs. As time progressed, formulas developed. The combination of more than two kinds of herbs forms a compound formula. From herb to formula is a process of change from quantity to quality.
Single herb possesses in itself individual specialities, has relatively simple effects, limited scope of applications, and is easy to produce toxic effects and side effects. By combining proper herbs together, an interactive and cooperative effect would emerge.
Basically, formulas are formed with the aim to increase the curative effects of the herbs through additive and synergetic assembly. Often, herbs are grouped together so that toxic effects and side effects of the individual herbs can be minimized or eliminated through mutual restraint and antagonism. By means of adjusting the dosage of different herbs, formulas are generally more suitable for complicated diseases.
In Chinese herbal therapy, herbal formulas are chosen for effects that can be divided into eight general categories:
| 1. | Dispersing or relieving the exterior pathogens through sweating, mainly for the
exterior syndromes and also for the early stage of diseases caused by external factors;
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| 2. | Expelling phlegm, saliva, undigested food or toxic substances from the body through vomiting;
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| 3. | Discharging through the lower orifice (anus) the undigested food, dry stool, cold accumulation, stagnant blood, phlegm and water retaining in the stomach and the intestines;
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| 4. | Regulating the excess and the decline of yin and yang by using a combination of strengthening and purging methods;
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| 5. | Warming by getting rid of the cold accumulated in the body;
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| 6. | Dispersing interior heat and fire and expelling toxins from the body;
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| 7. | Relieving indigestion, dissolving blockages and tangible lumps formed by the accumulation and stagnation of qi, blood, phlegm, retained food, water, worm and the like;
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| 8. | Supplementing or strengthening by nourishing and invigorating the qi, blood, yin and yang of the body. |
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The Chinese Approach to Treating Acne
Traditional Chinese medicine looks upon acne generally as a result of the environmental force of heat. The typical name for acne in Chinese medicine is "fei feng fen ci", or "lesion of the lung wind." In the theory of Chinese medicine, skin is closely related to the lung organ as it depends upon the lungs to supply the "essential substances of water and grains." The skin in turn can affect the normal process of respiration, as in the case when feng (evil wind) and coldness gaining access into the body through the sweat-pores.
When the lungs and the digestive system (mainly the stomach and the spleen organs) are not functioning properly, the disorders will combine to interrupt the passage of supplies to the skin. This can manifest in multiple conditions, but most noticeably as stagnation of the qi (energy) flow and the blood flow. Deficiency of the qi and the blood flow could cause many problems for us. It could increase deposits of cholesterol on the vessel walls (toxic heat in Chinese); cause dampness being blocked in the body, eventually turning into phlegm, blockages and lumps (damp heat).
For people who are in such conditions, a preference of high fat diet could only aggravate the case. That's why the Chinese places great importance in keeping a strict dietary program during the course of treatment.
We have all experienced an increase of breakouts when we are under stress or not having enough sleep. In the Chinese perspective, emotional disturbance is closely looked upon as a direct cause of stagnating the qi flow. The stagnation in turn would transform to heat in the blood, eventually taking the effect on our skin.
In Chinese medical terms, this overall condition generally manifests itself as an imbalance due to the overflow of Yang, causing excessive heat.
To restore the imbalance, herbs that have the effects of relieving stagnation, purging heat and dispersing toxins are generally chosen for therapy.
Chinese Herbal Formulas for Acne Treatment
Traditional Chinese medicine generally categorizes acne into three types: the blood-heat type, the phlegm-accumulation type, and the toxic-heat type. I am quoting <Clinic of Traditional Chinese Medicine>, published by Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (Shanghai, 1990, 1996, v. 2, pp. 354-58), for a taste of the typical Chinese formulas for acne treatment:
"Blood-heat Type
Main symptoms and signs: There are red papules, tubercles, acnes and inflammatory infiltration around them, accompanied with burning sensation, red tip of the tongue with thin and yellow fur and slippery and rapid pulse.
Therapeutic principle: Clearing away pathogenic heat and cooling the blood.
Suggested formula: Decoction of loquat leaf for clearing the lung with additional ingredients.
Loquat leaf 15 g
Dried rehmannia root 15 g
Scrophularia root 15 g
Mulberry bark 9 g
Scutellaria root 9 g
Coptis root 9 g
Capejasmine fruit 9 g
Red peony root 9 g
Moutan bark 9 g
Forsythia fruit 9 g
Prunella spike 9 g
White chrysanthemum flower 9 g
Phlegm-accumulation Type
Main symptoms and signs: Skin lesion is mainly characterized by acne, indurative acne and cystic acne, accompanied with white and greasy fur on the tongue and slippery pulse.
Therapeutic principle: Reducing phlegm, and resolving masses, regulating the ying system and clearing away pathogenic heat.
Suggested formula: Two Old Drugs Decoction of peach kernel and safflower with additional ingredients:
Tangerine peel 9 g
Pinellia tuber 9 g
Poria 9 g
Nutgrass flatsedge 9 g
Zhejiang fritillaria bulb 9 g
Orange kernel 9g
Safflower 9g
Red sage root 9 g
Chinese angelica root 9 g
Scutellaria root 9 g
Forsythia fruit 9 g
Loquat leaf 9 g
Licorice root 6 g
All the above drugs are to be decocted in water for oral administration.
Toxic-heat Type
Main symptoms and signs: Malar flush, scattered inflammatory nodules, acne, abscesses and furuncles on the face, accompanied with red tongue with yellow fur and slippery and rapid pulse.
Therapeutic principle: Removing pathogenic heat and toxic materials, and cooling the blood and resolving masses.
Suggested formula: Antiphlogistic Decoction of Five Drugs with additional ingredients:
Honeysuckle flower 15 g
Dandelion flower 15 g
Chinese violet 15 g
Chrysanthemum flower 15 g
Forsythia fruit 15 g
Dried rehmannia root 15 g
Scutellaria root 9 g
Moutan bark 9 g
Tangerine seed 9 g
Loquat leaf 9 g
Platycodon root 9 g
Licorice root 6 g"
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