Traditional Chinese medicine is effective and safe in the treatment of psoriasis
Publisher:
International Journal of Dermatology 43 (7), 552–552.
Date Published:
July 2004
Research:
Patients with psoriasis were divided into three groups according to their clinical course: developing stage, stable stage, and remission stage. Three different prescriptions, called recipes 1, 2, and 3, were given to the three different groups, respectively. These TCM agents were taken by patients with psoriasis once daily, with no other systemic drug, but accompanied by topical urea cream; treatment was continued for at least 1 month. Excellent results were observed after 1 month of treatment with TCM agents. Twenty-six of 72 treated patients (36.1%) achieved greater than a 75% reduction in the Psoriasis Activity and Severity Index (PASI) score and 38 patients (52.8%) achieved more than 50%, but less than 75%, improvement in the PASI score. No severe side-effects were observed, but slight nausea developed in five patients after taking TCM. The authors concluded that TCM therapy is effective and shows excellent safety in most patients with psoriasis. Remission seems to be long lasting. In addition, treatment with TCM is less costly for the patient when compared with narrow-band UVB, psoralen plus UVA (PUVA), retinoids, ciclosporin, alefacept, and other new biologic agents.