WORLD JOURNAL OF ACUPUNCTURE-MOXIBUSTION

Vol.10 No.2,  June, 2000

Observation on the  Therapeutic Effect of Point-Injection of 

Patients' Own Venous Blood for Treatment of Chloasma  

 by Wang Jing(王 茎) Zeng Yonglei(曾永蕾)¹

Chloasma is a commonly encountered pigmented facial disease, marked by light brown, tawny, even deep brown spots on the skin of cheeks, forehead, or around t he nose and mouth. It is spot-like at the beginning, enlarges and fuses into patchy plaque gradually, or becomes butterfly-like plaque on the face. It is thus also called as butterfly plaque and often seen in women. In recent years, we have used acupuncture therapy to treat Chloasma and achieved a good therapeutic effect. Here is the report.

Clinical Data  

This group was made up of 60 cases. They all were female and aged from 20 to 29 years in 16 cases, from 30 to 39 years in 40 cases and above 40 years in 4 cases. The duration of disease was from 2 months to 10 years, including less than 2 years in 48 cases. 15 cases had a typical butterfly plaque. Most of them had a poor therapeutic effect in spite of having tried multiple therapies. These 60 cases were randomly divided into treatment group (n=30 cases, who were treated with point-injection of patients' own venous blood) and control group (n=30 cases, who were treated with acupuncture).

Treatment Methods  

1) Treatment group: Bilateral Zusanli (ST 36) and Feishu (BL 13) were selected. After routine sterilization, a gauge-5 ml syringe was used to withdraw 2 ml blood from the patient's venous vessel. The blood was then injected into the same one patient's acupoints, about 0.5 ml for each acupoint. The treatment was given once daily, with 5 times being a therapeutic course. The interval between two therapeutic courses was 5-7 days. After 5 courses of treatment, the therapeutic effect was analyzed.

2) Control group: Bilateral Zusanli (ST 36) and Feishu (BL 13) were selected. Af ter routine sterilization, gauge-28 filiform needles 2 cun long were respectively inserted into these acupoints. The needle for Zusanli (ST 36) was punctured vertically, and that for Feishu (BL 13) punctured obliquely with the needle tip toward the spinal column. After achieving needling sensations, the need le was retained for 20 to 30 min and manipulated once every 3-5 min with uniform reinforcing and reducing method. The treatment sessions and courses were the same to those of treatment group.

Results  

1) Criteria for evaluating the therapeutic effect: Cured: after treatment, the pigmentation disappeared basically, no new skin lesion was found, or only indistinct pigmentation existed and the skin lesion decreased by 90-100%. Markedly effective: the skin lesion abated above 70%. Effective: the pigmentation lightened to a certain degree and the skin lesion abated more than 30%. Ineffective: After treatment, the skin lesion had no obvious changes.

2) Results: In the treatment group, of the 30 cases, 16 (53.3%) were cured, 8 (2 6.7% ) had a marked improvement, 3 (10.0%) had an improvement and 3 (10.0%) had no an y effect. The cure and marked by effective rate was 80.0% and the total effective rate 90.0%. In the control group, of the 30 cases, 4 (13.3%) were cured, 7 (23 .4%) experienced a marked improvement, 15 (50.0%) had an improvement and 4 (13.3%) had no any significant changes. The cure and markedly effective rate was 36.7% and t he total effective rate 86.7%. Statistical analysis showed a significant difference between the two groups in the cure and markedly effective rate (P<0.05). But there was no significant difference between the two groups in total effective r ate (P>0.05). The therapeutic effect of point-injection was superior to that of acupuncture. The duration of cure was 28 days at shortest, 60 days at most, aver aging 45 days in the treatment group; and 40 days at shortest, 75 days at most, averaging 65 days in the control group. There was a significant difference between the two groups (P<0.05).

Discussion  

The etiology and pathogenesis of chloasma remain unknown up to now. It is held in modern medicine that chloasma is associated with disorder of endocrine. In clinic, chloasma is often seen in women with pregnancy or suffering from disease s of the female genital system, or after oral administration of contraceptives, etc. Traditional Chinese medicine holds that chloasma results mostly from stagnancy of the liver-Qi, blockage of Qi and blood in the face region, or deficiency of both the spleen and kidney, malnutrition of muscles and skin, etc. It is treated by external application of drugs, cryotherapy, laser radiation, etc., but without any ideal effect. Acupuncture posses a certain effect in treatment of chloasma. Feishu (BL 13) is the back-shu point of the lung and the lung is related t o the skin and hair. So, Feishu (BL 13) is often used to treat dermatosis. Zusanl i (ST 36) is one point of the Foot-Yangming Meridian which goes up to the face. It can function in reinforcing and promoting circulation of Qi and blood, and is one important acupoint for cosmetology. But the therapeutic effect of acupuncture needs to be raised. We adopted acupoint injection with patient's own venous blood and got a significant effect. Its action mechanisms remain unknown. This method is simple, easy to be performed and works very well in treatment of chloasma.

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