Below we see a classic example of atopic dermatitis / eczema presenting as Wind in the Four Bends (四弯风). The four bends refers to the flexures of the elbows and knees; wind refers to the inflammation and itch in these areas.

As you would have noticed, the lesions had spread beyond the these flexures, which is common especially if the patient is already using some form of steroid on the lesions.

In the case of this patient, she had already stopped the application of topical steroids about 6 month ago, going through the initial rebound flare. The rebound flare that follows cessation of steroid use will often cause skin inflammation to spread beyond the original eczematous lesions.

Below is the what is possible after treatment with Chinese medicine.

As you can see, the erythema (redness) has faded away, the lesions are less dampy/weepy. What is left is some papular ‘bumps.’ For some patients, this outcome can be achieved within a few weeks; for others it may take longer.

Infant Eczema

We saw Dr. Mark for our then 4 month old baby who had eczema. We had tried homeopathy, naturopath, and then out of desperation a 5 day bout with steroid which showed absolutely no improvements. Then with the recommendation of grace ng from health champion we found mark. He’s quite possibly the youngest tcm doc we’ve met but not for a moment did we doubt his knowledge.

Despite informing us that infant eczema is tricky, he helped to improve our baby’s condition at such a speedy rate we weren’t expecting! He was constantly telling us to update him on our baby’s condition, he responded to our queries within the day and with our feedback, tweaked the formula of the herbs to suit our child. Our challenge with eczema is not over yet, but we are in a much better position with it now, after seeing mark, than we were 1 mth ago. We do not feel so helpless anymore.