Clearing Acnes For Good

By Raman Kapur

Published: 26th April 2015 06:00 AM

Last Updated: 25th April 2015 12:39 PM

Acne is a common inflammatory disease of the pilosebaceous units in the skin, which often occurs in the facial, chest and back region. It is due to over secretion of androgen, dyskeratosis of conduits of the sebaceous gland and microbial infection.
Several preliminary studies have suggested that acupuncture may be effective in patients with acne.  The exact mechanisms of acupuncture in acne are unclear and may involve at least three key components—the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis, the autonomic nervous system and brain-derived neurotrophic factor. Additionally, acupuncture may act as a modulator of the immune system as he has been supported by a number of observations.
‘Ah Shi’ point acupuncture involves inserting needles at painful or pathological sites and was traditionally used for lancing furuncles.   Therefore, a study was aimed at finding out the effects of ‘Ah Shi’ point acupuncture on papules and nodules of acne vulgaris.
Researchers Young-Hee Yun, Byeong-Kook Son and In-Hwa Choi carried out a research to observe the effects of acupuncture on acne vulgaris.

The study was conducted at the department of Oriental Dermatology, Kyung Hee University, East-West Neo Medical Center in Seoul. Participants were invited through announcements on the website of east-west Neo Medical Centre and newspapers. After a thorough explanation of the procedure, informed consent was obtained from the patients who were 18 years old or more. From July to December 2009, they screened 68 applicants and enrolled 36 who met the criteria for the study.
In this study, we found that acupuncture treatment of moderate acne vulgaris was associated with reduction of inflammatory lesions and improvement of the quality of life.  Excessive sebum production secondary to sebaceous gland hyperplasia is the first abnormality to occur in acne. Subsequent hyperkeratinisation of the hair follicle prevents normal shedding of the follicular keratinocytes, which then obstruct the follicle and form an apparent microcomedon.
Lipids and cellular debris soon accumulate within the blocked follicle. This microenvironment encourages colonisation of propionibacterium acne, which provokes an immune response through the production of numerous inflammatory mediators.  Inflammation is further enhanced by follicular rupture and subsequent leakage of lipids, bacteria and fatty acids into the dermis Overall, they came to the conclusion that the traditional diagnoses of wind, heat, damp and insufficiency of lung, spleen or stomach are related to acne treatment, so one can treat acne using these meridians.
In conclusion, acupuncture treatment of moderate acne vulgaris was associated with reduction of inflammatory lesions and improvement of the quality of life.
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