Does TCM Cure Eczema?

Traditional Chinse Medicine (TCM) helps your skin recover from eczema by strengthening your internal organs and dispelling pathogenic factors. In TCM, any health issue is caused by imbalances between the various parts of your immune system. As such, a combination of creams, teas, pills and herbal treatments are required to calm your immune system.

What is Eczema?

Eczema is an umbrella term for a group of skin conditions that cause the sufferer itchy and inflamed patches of skin. The most common form of Eczema is atopic dermatitis, which is characterized by symptoms such as a red rash coupled with both dry and itchy skin.

3 other common forms of Eczema exist, they are:

1. Contact Dermatitis – caused by physical contact with irritants. Symptoms include burning, itchy and red skin. Treatment for the inflammation mainly revolves around the removal of the irritant.
2. Nummular Dermatitis – usually causes dry and rough patches of skin on your legs. It is typically most observed during the onset of winter or a drop in temperature.
3. Seborrheic Dermatitis – surfaces in the form of itchy and red rashes on a person’s face.

How Eczema is Typically Treated?

Eczema is typically treated by doctors using steroids and complementary medications that reduce the severity of the symptoms. In the short term, you will find that these anti-itching and repair creams coupled with anti-inflammatory drugs will help to suppress your eczema symptoms.

However, many of these medications cannot be used in the long run due to the potential of unwanted serious side effects taking root.

Eczema Through the Lens of TCM

For patients whose skin has not responded well to western eczema treatments or who have had negative side effects, traditional Chinese medicine offers a viable alternative. TCM practitioners believe that eczema is not an isolated issue but rather a sign of a deeper problem.

In TCM, eczema in its atopic dermatitis form is likely caused by

• Deficiencies in your spleen and liver
• A lack of yin in your body
• Pathogenic factors of dampness, heat and wind

In particular, deficiencies in your spleen is a major culprit for the outbreak of eczema. The spleen is responsible for converting your body’s nutrients into qi (vital energy) and blood. However, when it can be weakened by fatigue, stress and an unbalanced diet. At this point, TCM practitioners believe that instead of having nutrients transformed into qi and blood, they instead form dampness.

The consequence of having constant internal production of dampness is internal heat emerging. When both internal dampness and heat are accumulated, they start to circulate to your head. In turn, symptoms such as redness, itchiness, dry skin and the oozing of fluid start to emerge around your face.

When your skin’s defense is down, external pathogenic factors such as heat, dryness, dampness and wind can freely invade your body, thus giving rise to a full blown eczema. Depending on your environment, different pathogens will unbalance your body and thus different conditions will emerge.

Conditions Under Eczema

As mentioned before, depending on the type of pathogens that have invaded your body, the characteristics of eczema that affects you will differ. The following list compiles common sets of characteristics and identifies the associated pathogen:

• Wind can cause skin disorders and itchiness. Most notably, a sudden onset of symptoms can be observed as you move from into a space which affects you.
• Wind and heat may combine to cause red papules to emerge all over your body. These red papules will result in severe itchiness for you.
• Wind, heat and dampness leads to dry and itchy lips or throat. Additionally, symptoms may spread to other parts of your face or limbs.
• Where dampness reaches your liver, it can combine with internal heat to induce eczema at your nipples. You may observe red rashes, papules and itchy skin.

Why TCM is Effective in Treating Eczema?

Traditional Chinese Medicine treats eczema by strengthening your organs and dispelling pathogenic factors (e.g. wind, heat, dampness). A range of different oral and topical medicines are prescribed to help bring the body back into balance. As such, no two treatments are identical, differing for your individual body composition.

The following list contains common TCM treatments for eczema depending on where the imbalance exists and the type of pathogens that have invaded your body.

• Cablin patchouli and fortune eupatorium herbs to help your spleen and to remove dampness
• Chinese thorowax root, tree peony bark and liquorice root for improving liver health
• Gambir plant and puncturevine caltrop fruit for enhancing qi circulation and to dispel wind
• Belvedere fruit, pricklyash peel and alum for reducing redness of your skin

While we have listed common treatments for various parts of your body, it must be noted that TCM does not treat any one part in isolation. In TCM, there is a fundamental belief that the whole body must be treated as all organ systems are dependent on each other. As such, on-going and calibrated treatment doses must be prescribed by a licensed TCM doctor. The key here is to achieve balance in your body, ensure that qi flows freely through it and that all unwanted pathogens are expelled.

Other Home Therapies for Eczema

TCM professionals advise eczema bearing patients to perform the following steps at home in addition to taking the prescribed supplements:

• Take warm baths
• Use milder soaps
• Reduce daily stress levels
• Resist the urge to scratch at all costs
• Only wear cool or light clothing

Trust Tong Jum Chew For All Your TCM Needs

Tong Jum Chew was founded in 1965 as a medical hall. Since then, it has grown into a manufacturer and distributor of traditional Chinese medicine and health supplements. We boast a modern manufacturing facility in Singapore, that includes a clean room environment. All products are produced using modern machinery and undergo stringent checks to ensure that they are safe for consumption or usage.

Under our proprietary brand, Nature’s Green, we supply numerous products for the treatment of skin problems. Explore our TCM for skin products today.