TCM Psoriasis Treatment
If you are looking at this page, you may be considering the use of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) to treat psoriasis.
I am Dr. Mark, and I may be able to help you with your condition, as I have helped many other patients seeking treatment at Chinese Doc Singapore.
Traditional Chinese Medicine does an excellent job at treating Psoriasis. It is often passed over as a treatment modality, only because those suffering from Psoriasis do not know about it.
Psoriasis has been treated in China since over 2000 years ago. In Chinese it is 银屑病 (yín xiè bìng) in modern medical use, and 白疕 (Bái Bǐ) or 牛皮癣 (Niú Pí Xiǎn) in the classical texts, and a copious amount of medical literature has researched how to treat psoriasis using Chinese herbs.
Our clinic is very good at it. Please read on to learn more.
Does TCM Psoriasis Treatment Really Work?
Chinese medicine for psoriasis has a 2000-year clinical record, and it is still the option most people in Singapore never consider.
Psoriasis is a skin condition associated with chronic inflammation in the body. There is an abnormal rate of maturation of the keratinocytes on the body’s surface. This results in silver-scaled plaques that when peeled off leave a pinpoint streak of blood (Auspitz sign).
A quick search online for systematic reviews or meta-analyses will show that treatment with Chinese herbal medicine can ameliorate clinical symptoms as well as decrease the PASI (psoriasis area and severity index) score. Those on Chinese herbs also may experience delayed recurrence in addition to an improvement in quality of life.
If you are suffering from Psoriasis, do give yourself a chance to give Chinese herbs a chance. You don’t have to believe it to try it. You can do some research online first, but think about it, it is worth a try even if there is only 30% improvement!
Case Study: Patient Receives TCM Psoriasis Treatment
Psoriasis can start in in the scalp, but also on the face and the outer surface of joints, e.g. the angular part of the elbow or the knee caps. It is a medical condition that should be monitored and managed.
The picture above shows how psoriasis might present in a flare situation.
For this patient in particular, the skin lesion started as a small patch in front of the ear. This is actually quite a common presentation in many patients.
Due to stress at the patient’s workplace, the skin lesion expanded and even moved downwards toward the neck.
Many people are suspicious about how effective herbal medicine can be for a stubborn condition as psoriasis. That said, if you suffer from psoriasis, it can be rewarding to consider the traditional Chinese medicine approach to treatment.
In the image above, the patient has been on two rounds of herbal treatment.
The lesions are mostly flatter, and have dispersed a bit. The lesion between the left eye and side burn has disappeared. The redness has also reduced significantly, and the patient is happy with the results.
After four and a half months of treatment using Chinese herbs only, these lesions have disappeared completely. For some of our patients, this type of recovery is not enough, but for others, it is life-changing.
Many people give it a try, use herbs for one or two weeks, and usually continue if they feel that the herbs are helping.
Over time, many people arrive at a 80-90% clearance of the psoriatic lesions, and that is considered to be a huge improvement, considering that psoriasis is a usually long-standing and really reduces your quality of life.
TCM Psoriasis Recovery In 2 Months
1. What Kinds Of Psoriasis Patients Do We See?
Psoriasis presents really differently. We know this because we see different kinds of psoriasis patients at our clinic.
- Some patients may come in in the early stage of mild psoriasis, often without too much accumulation of heat or toxins.
- Others may come in with hardened plaques, usually indicative of a longer history of this condition.
- Some patients may present only with reddened lesions with silver flakes around the hairline.
- Others present with stubborn inverse psoriasis around the armpits and genitalia.
2. How does a Psoriasis Flare Begin?
This is a genetic condition, therefore having a family history of psoriasis means that you may start off ok, but a trigger is what often turns the switch on. This trigger then leads to a visible skin outbreak.
The 6 main psoriasis triggers are environmental triggers, dietary triggers, emotional triggers, heavy metal triggers and pregnancy stress.
Pregnancy does turn on the switch for some women with dormant psoriasis, and it can only be explained as changes that increase stress on the body, similar to how some women suffer from PUPPP during pregnancy.
Patients with subclinical psoriasis may present with minimal silvery white dandruff on the skin, or minimal scaling on the elbows and knees. They are safe, but only until their system is overwhelmed. Once triggered, a skin flare will ensue, and it may not be so easy for the body to return to its earlier immunological state. There may also be other symptoms that include digestive issues, an increase in body temperature and reduced ability to manage stress.
3. Where Can Psoriasis Appear?
- Scalp: Psoriasis often begins within the scalp of the head. This is where is begins and lays dormant for a long time before spreading to other parts of the scalp and then emerging out past the hairline. It is crucial to act quickly to nip it in the bud when there are scalp lesions in the early stages.
- Face: Lesions at the hairline contiguous to the forehead are the most common. There are also lesions coming down the sideburns to the front of the ears.
- Eyelids: The skin of the eyelids often show up as red and dry and rough. It is the dry and crusty feeling that is much more painful to bear.
- Ears: Lesions may often appear around the ears, often the back of the ear. Skin changes also occur in the external ear canal. Ear lesions may feel a little more itchy than lesions on the other parts of the body.
- Palmoplantar Psoriasis and Nail Changes: Palmoplantar psoriasis involves, swelling, blistering and cracking on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet. Nail changes occur in the form of pitting, onycholysis and discoloration. These changes are not specific to psoriasis, but are usually seen as psoriasis nail changes if occurring at the same time as psoriasis plaques on the skin.
If you are interested, we have an entire article describing each separate location of psoriasis lesion.
4. What Do We Diagnose?
Psoriasis is made up of different pathogenic elements, for example, wind, dryness, heat, toxin, etc. We assess the relative weight of these ‘pathogenic elements’ by looking at:
- the level of redness
- location of lesions
- how itchy the lesions are
- how hot the patient feels
- bowel motion
- tongue
- pulse
- nervous system
We then formulate a prescription to target these pathogenic elements. For example:
- Toxin accumulation –> clear out heat-toxin
- Blood dryness –> reduce dryness-itch.
5. How Do We Treat Psoriasis?
We have many success stories using only customized oral herbal medication as the mainstay of psoriasis treatment. We also use herbal creams.
Psoriasis is largely linked to an imbalance within the immune system. To put it simply, this chronic skin condition is associated with a relative excess of type-1 and type-17 T-helper cells. Modern clinical research tells us that TCM herbal formulas act to rebalance one’s immune system.
If you do decide to use acupuncture to treat your psoriasis, you should see improvements in your skin as early as 1-2 days after treatment.
6. How Long Before I Can See a Change?
Contrary to what many may think, psoriasis treatment with customized oral herbal medication can commonly deliver results within 2-4 weeks.
Even if it is feeling 10% better after a week of TCM treatment, most sufferers of psoriasis are able to still appreciate when redness, itch or scaling is reduced.
For such people, it is clear that while the improvement is marginal, it makes sense to continue TCM treatment to improve the condition even more.
We need to manage expectations though, because there will always be the outlier patient whose body may take a longer time to respond to the treatment.
There are also cases where the TCM approach is able to clear out 90%, but somehow is unable to clear the remaining 10% of the psoriatic lesions.
7. How Do We Know It Is Working?
What is an effective treatment? If your skin feels better after treatment, if your symptoms are reduced or disappear, the TCM treatment is effective.
The body does not lie; it is the best judge on the effectiveness of the psoriasis treatment.
- After customized oral herbal medication, the patient should see positive changes between 5 -15 days of being treated. This is especially so when using traditional Chinese medicine to treat guttate psoriasis, or at the onset of a mild flare of plaque psoriasis. It can be more complex when treating inverse psoriasis, erythrodermic psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis.
- After using the cream, we want the patient to feel reduced inflammation and even softening of plaque lesions.
8. What About Psoriatic Arthritis?
Some people with psoriasis also get joint pain, swelling and morning stiffness. That is psoriatic arthritis — think of it as psoriasis plus a rheumatoid-type arthritis, in the same person, driven by the same underlying inflammation.
- The joints can start hurting before the skin breaks out, or years after.
- Treating only the skin leaves the joint damage to carry on quietly.
- We treat both together, because in Chinese medicine they are one pattern, not two diseases.
Take the first step towards improving your psoriasis condition!
FAQs
1. What is psoriasis?
Psoriasis is a systemic skin disease characterized by chronic inflammation of the skin. There is an abnormality in the rate of maturation of keratinocytes, resulting in dry, thickened and silver-scaled plaques.
Up to 50% of psoriasis start on the scalp, with most people seeing it as dandruff and an inconvenience, rather than a medical condition that can flare up if not monitored and managed.
Modern medicine will almost always include the use of steroids in the treatment of skin conditions; psoriasis is, after all, a disease of inflammation.
In addition, there are vitamin D derivatives (like calcitriol) as well as vitamin A acid derivatives (retinoids) that come in handy. Immunosuppressive agents like cyclosporine and methotrexate (MTX) are also commonly prescribed.
Psoriasis as a skin disease is largely linked to the vagaries of one’s immune system, and conventional therapy clearly DOES address the mechanisms that create the immune imbalance in the first place.
2. What can Chinese medicine do for my psoriasis?
There are gaps in conventional treatment of psoriasis, as evidenced by the many patients seeking answers from traditional Chinese medicine.
Chinese herbal medicine is able to:
- Ameliorate clinical symptoms and delay recurrence
- Decrease the psoriasis area and severity index (PASI) score
- Reduce the side effects of Western medicine
- Enhance one’s quality of life
3. What is triggering my psoriasis?
Stress plays a significant role in the development and exacerbation of psoriasis, serving as a trigger for flares in individuals genetically predisposed to the condition.
This bidirectional relationship means that not only can stress trigger psoriasis flares, but the physical discomfort and social stigma associated with psoriasis can also cause significant stress and anxiety.
Research suggests that stress can disrupt the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, leading to lower levels of cortisol, the body’s primary stress hormone, which contributes to inflammation and exacerbates psoriasis symptoms. Living with psoriasis can also lead to depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem, further exacerbating symptoms and creating a vicious cycle.
4. Can coffee trigger psoriasis?
There is no conclusive evidence that coffee directly triggers psoriasis. However, some people may experience worsened symptoms due to caffeine’s potential impact on the immune system and skin health.
5. Possible causes for psoriasis remission
Psoriasis remission can occur due to various factors, including:
- Stress reduction: Managing stress levels through relaxation techniques, exercise, or therapy can help alleviate symptoms.
- Dietary changes: A balanced diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and omega-3 fatty acids can support overall health and potentially lead to remission.
- Medications: Topical or systemic treatments, such as corticosteroids, vitamin D analogues, or biologics, can help manage symptoms and induce remission.
- Lifestyle changes: Maintaining a healthy lifestyle, including regular exercise and adequate sleep, can contribute to remission
6. Can grief cause psoriasis?
While grief itself is not a direct cause of psoriasis, it can contribute to stress levels, which are known to trigger psoriasis symptoms. The emotional toll of grief can exacerbate existing conditions, including psoriasis.
7. Can grief trigger autoimmune disease?
Grief itself is not a direct trigger for autoimmune diseases, including psoriasis. However, the stress and emotional distress associated with grief can increase the risk of developing or exacerbating autoimmune conditions.
8. How long do I continue treatment for?
How long do I continue treatment for?
People often ask how long must they come for TCM treatment for psoriasis. The answer is that it really depends on the severity of the condition, as well as the patient response.
Some patients may have suffered with psoriasis for years, and after being treated with TCM for two weeks, they experience improvements that are beyond surprising.
Others have severe psoriasis and do not respond as quickly; this is just how it is, and we may have to support your Spleen a little more, or cool your Blood more strongly to see significant effect.
Whether the TCM treatments are solely through the consumption of herbs, or in tandem with acupuncture, the final treatment outcome we are looking for is an immune system that is more balanced, skin inflammation that is more manageable, and a body that can manage on its own.
9. Is Psoriasis a Yin Yang Imbalance?
Psoriasis often presents as excessive Yang Heat crowding out insufficient Yin Fluids; this is so because of internal health conditions that are built into one’s body constitution.
From an immunological perspective, the Yin Yang imbalance in the psoriatic body is a condition of excess levels of Th1 and Th17 (yang) relative to Th2 (yin) that causes abnormal growth of skin cells.
That said, psoriasis is certainly more complex than Yin and Yang. The more fitting way to view it is in terms of the pathogens like wind-heat, blood-heat, damp-heat, heat-toxins and etc.
Each of these pathogen has a different presentation of signs and symptoms. Because of this, there are an exclusive range of herbal ingredients that are always appropriate to use depending on how the psoriatic flare is presenting.
Therefore, while psoriasis is a condition of systemic inflammation, the choice of herbs for each individual patient is going to be different depending on the individual’s signs and symptoms.
10. Is it eczema or psoriasis?
Skin conditions are sometimes difficult to differentiate from one another. Patients always have problems differentiating eczema from psoriasis.
In Singapore, eczema is the most common skin conditions that plague a subset of our population. Reference is always made to eczema, which includes face eczema, hand eczema, foot eczema, nummular eczema, discoid eczema and stasis eczema.
Eczema is actually a blanket term that people use to refer to atopic dermatitis, and atopic dermatitis can be seen as the immunological opposite of psoriasis.
11. Where can I find a psoriasis doctor in Orchard Road, Singapore?
Chinese Doc is at 545 Orchard Road, Singapore 238882.
Dr Mark Chern holds a PhD from Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine and is registered with the TCM Practitioners Board of Singapore (T1202879G). He has treated psoriasis, eczema and topical steroid withdrawal since 2013.
To book, fill in the form on this page, or WhatsApp +65 8120 6030.
12. Is there a cure for psoriasis in Singapore?
No. There is no cure for psoriasis — not in Singapore, not anywhere.
What Chinese medicine can do is bring the inflammation down and keep it down:
- Customized oral herbal medication to rebalance the immune response that drives the plaques.
- A herbal cream applied to the lesions, to settle the redness and soften the scaling.
Many patients reach 80-90% clearance and hold it while treatment continues, and some keep that improvement for long stretches afterwards. That is a different promise from a cure. It is also the honest one.
