Yesterday in clinic I had the opportunity to show a series of photographs to a patient that had been taken over the past year and a half, during the treatment of her chronic psoriasis. She had been asking me for them and I was waiting for this brand new macbook (that I just purchased) so that I could edit them easier :-)

This woman had had fairly significant psoriatic lesions on the extensor aspects of her lower legs. She had been using a western cream, a combination of a strong steroid and a Vitamin D derivative, for relief. It only worked temporally- her lesions flaring up full force as soon as she would stop using it. This is a common western approach to the treatment of psoriasis, using only an external cream, and contradicts all the latest research showing that psoriasis is an internal systemic problem. Topical treatment is basically only a band-aide.

 When she first came to see me, I encouraged her to try Chinese herbal medicine, both internal and external and see what happens. Within the first couple weeks of stopping her western creams, she experienced a rebound effect where-by the lesions became very angry- itchy and inflamed red. She had experienced this before and so wasn't suprised. I encouraged her to keep going.

 Within one month of treatment her itch was mostly gone and the lesions had resolved significantly. By the fifth month her lesions were almost non-existent. One year later she visited the clinic and she was clear of any lesion. When I showed her the photo stream of her progress, she was amazed. She had forgoten how bad it had been and was so grateful to have clear skin now. I was happy to have helped her and was glad that I had followed in my teachers path by photographing the results! (Hopefully I will be able to post this case in the near future)

To add: Since psoriasis is a systemic disease, other symptoms that this woman had like pre-menstrual spotting for 7 days before her menses, painful menstruation, constipation, headaches, low energy, night sweating and restless sleeps were all taken into account in the making of her herbal formula. After her initial few months of treatment, not only did her psoriasis improve, all the above mentioned symptoms disappeared. Thus showing the beauty of a wholistic medical system like Chinese medicine.

Trevor Erikson, May 14, 2009