Acupuncture helps Itching in Eczema

Acupuncture helps itching in eczema. Researchers at the Charité–Universitätsmedizin Berlin, one of Europe’s largest university hospitals, have shown that acupuncture helps itching in eczema (atopic dermatitis), and may help patients reduce their use of steroid creams. A total of 121 patients, recruited through media advertising in Berlin, were randomised to receive acupuncture, osteopathy or no treatment as a control. All received standard routine care consisting of topical steroids and emollients. Acupuncture comprised eight treatments at one to two week intervals.

Although disease severity scores were similar across all three groups at the end of treatment, there were clinically relevant improvements in itching in the acupuncture group compared to the other groups. Steroid use was also reduced in both treatment groups, compared with the no-treatment control group.

(Acupuncture & osteopathic medicine for atopic dermatitis: a three-armed, randomized controlled explorative clinical trial. Clinical & Experimental Dermatology, 1 December 2022.)

Author: Robin Costello

I offer traditional Chinese acupuncture in Exeter, from a tranquil clinic a mile from the city centre, and next to the University of Exeter. I graduated originally from the London School of Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine’s 3 year full time Acupuncture Diploma (DipAc) course. I am on the practitioners register of the British Acupuncture Council (MBAcC), a regulatory and professional body with an entry standard of a full three year undergraduate degree level training. I have worked in a hospital in south west China, deepening my knowledge and using acupuncture and Chinese massage (tuina) as the treatment of choice in its country of origin. I have taught Chinese medicine in colleges, the NHS and at university level. I also practise Qi Gong, and Chinese dietary therapy, that is the medicinal use of ordinary foods, chosen to help achieve particular therapeutic effects in different individuals.