Traditional Chinese Medicine and Skin Diseases Ear Acupuncture Therapy for Psoriasis

Psoriasis is an inflammatory chronic disease affecting both genders, approximately 2-3% of the world
population. Although there are different clinical forms of psoriasis, the most common type is Psoriasis
vulgaris. It presents skin patches typically red, itchy and scaly with different levels of severity and
extension, established clinically by Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI). Because of these facts,
there are many types of interventions focused on your treatment, looking for effectiveness and safety.
The immunomodulatory effect of Traditional Chinese Medicine (MTC) technics has been proven
experimentally in the control of inflammation and analgesia, however there are few studies that
evaluate the auriculotherapy as treatment in autoimmune diseases and its pathological processes. Six
patients with different degrees of PASI were treated with auriculotherapy using the points: Shemen,
Kidney, Sympathetic Nervous System, Occipital, Adrenal, Allergy, Anxiety, Local Point, Hives and
Tension for fourteen weeks or until symptoms disappeared. These cases showed that ear
acupuncture therapy can be effective in the treatment of psoriasis at different stages. While the
patients in the early stage of symptoms, even if was relapse, respond quickly to treatment, it was
observed the clinical response of a patient with severe erythematous psoriasis (PASI 25.8), resistant
to other treatments, significantly regressed after 14 weeks (2.4 PASI). The results indicate the
importance of the development of a case-control design, to confirm the indication of this kind of
therapy to Psoriasis vulgaris.