Efficacy of ah shi Point Acupuncture on Acne Vulgaris

Abstract

Background Ah shi point acupuncture involves inserting needles at painful or pathological sites. Objective To evaluate the effi cacy of ah shi point and general acupuncture point treatment of acne vulgaris. Methods 36 subjects were recruited and randomised in a double-blind (patient-blind and observer-blind) controlled trial to receive acupuncture either at general acupuncture points only, or at both general acupuncture points and ah shi points 12 times over 6 weeks. The subjects were evaluated using the following outcome measurements: an infl ammatory lesion count, a quality-of-life scale (Skindex-29) and a subjective symptom score. Results After 12 treatment sessions, there was a signifi cant reduction in the infl ammatory acne lesion counts, the Skindex-29 scores and the subjective symptom scores from baseline in both groups, but no signifi cant difference between groups. Conclusions Acupuncture treatment of moderate acne vulgaris was associated with reduction of infl ammatory lesions and improvement of the quality of life.

Efficacy of acupuncture in improving the symptoms and the quality of life of patients with moderate or severe acne vulgaris: a protocol for a randomized controlled trial

“…After 4-week treatment, the reduction in the number of skin lesions in the acupuncture and sham acupuncture groups was -6.62 ± 15.42 and -15.10 ± 20.13, respectively, with no significant between-group difference (P=0.137). These findings contradict the results of previous trials [11][12][13][14] . On the contrary, after 4-week treatment, the reduction in the Skindex- 16 ; there was a significant between-group difference in this respect (P=0.044).…”

“…The demographic and clinical characteristics of the participants at baseline will be recorded by a research assistant: age; gender; race; BMI (kg/m 2 ); marital status; educational level (primary education or below, secondary education, and tertiary education); working duration (<8 hours, [8][9][10][11][12] hours, and >12 hours); duration of sports activities (<7 hours; 7-9 hours; and >9 hours); sleep duration (0-3 times/ month, 1-2 times/week, 3-4 times/week, and ≥ 5 times/week); smoking history; history of alcohol intake; AV duration in months; severity of AV as assessed by global acne grading system (GAGS) score [none (0 score), mild (1-18 score), moderate (19-30 score), severe (31-38 score), and markedly severe (> 39 score)] [25] .…”

Efficacy of acupuncture in improving the symptoms and the quality of life of patients with moderate or severe acne vulgaris: a protocol for a randomized controlled trial

“…The difference between the two groups was 8.48±7.74, and there was no significant between-group difference (p = 0.137, > 0.05). These findings contradict the results of previous trials [11][12][13][14] and a systematic review of AV also reported that there is no difference between acupuncture and the waiting list for reducing the number of inflammatory lesions [16] . Unlike drugs, it acts directly on the pathogen, and acupuncture restores normal functions through motivating or inducing the inherent regulatory system in the body and mediating various regulatory systems in the body in order to obtain integral regulation effect [17] .…”

“…Several trials have indicated that acupuncture may alleviate the skin lesions and improve the QoL of patients with AV [11][12][13][14][15] . However, these trials were affected by potential bias due to the small sample sizes, non-placebo/sham/waiting list control, or use of self-defined outcome measures; thus, these trials did not provide robust evidence of the efficacy of acupuncture in AV patients.…”

“…Unlike drugs, it acts directly on the pathogen, and acupuncture restores normal functions through motivating or inducing the inherent regulatory system in the body and mediating various regulatory systems in the body in order to obtain integral regulation effect [17] . Therefore, acupuncture can relieve other symptoms of AV (itch or pain) [18,19] , with the exception of skin lesions, and improve the QoL of patients with AV [11] . Meanwhile, following a four-week treatment, the total score on the Skindex-16 scale for acupuncture (n=21) was 19.89±15.40, with a reduction of -12.50±19.09 from the baseline.…”