Treating Rosacea with Acupuncture

I often blog about conditions that I love treating with acupuncture because it seems we get better results than Western Doctors and with minimal side effects. Today I’m adding Rosacea to the list.

Rosacea is a condition that we have been seeing more commonly here at Dylan Stein Acupuncture, I suspect due to the stressful lives New Yorkers tend to live. I think that is also why we are seeing cases in women who are not hereditarily predisposed to Rosacea but instead a wider range of ethnicities overall.

Rosacea is a frustrating condition experienced mostly by women between the ages of 30 and 50. The most frustrating thing about it is that it is commonly misdiagnosed and treated as acne, which results in worse flare-ups and symptoms. Western doctors don’t know the cause of Rosacea and have limited therapies to treat it. Simple, everyday acts such as washing the face with cold or hot water, working out and having a sip of wine can cause flushing, an uprising of redness across the face known as erythema. Flushing is most often an embarrassing nuisance, but, left untreated, can increasingly worsen to a permanent state of redness and also result in a more serious kind of rosacea affecting the eyes and deeper tissue of the nose.

In Chinese medicine, we categorize Rosacea into 3 diagnoses that all involve the stagnation of Qi, the body’s energy, whether in the lung channel, spleen and stomach channels, or of blood. All three of these categories result in an accumulation of heat, hence the redness. Acupuncture can be used to facilitate the free flow of energy through the body and release that trapped heat. For those who are unfamiliar with the terms, just consider the fact that heat rises – It makes sense that the heat affects our face – the top part of our bodies. As our bodies metabolize and function throughout the day, similar to an engine, heat is produced and needs to be released. For whatever reason, some people are less well able to release that heat, which can then manifest in many different ways.

With the summer heat resulting in more redness and discomfort, please don’t hesitate to schedule today. With acupuncture, herbs and diet modifications, we can help your body function optimally and clear the redness so that you can put your best face forward!