Acupuncture for Rosacea

How Chinese medicine understands rosacea

Rosacea is a chronic inflammatory condition of the face: the cheeks, nose, chin and forehead. It tends to start with easy flushing, then persistent redness, and sometimes small bumps and pustules. It is more common in middle age, and more common in women.

In Chinese medicine, rosacea is usually read as heat that rises to the face. Inflammation produces heat, and the redness is the visible sign of it. The question at the first visit is where that heat comes from, because that decides the treatment.

• Heat in the Lung and Stomach. Redness over the nose and cheeks, flushing after hot food or drinks, thirst, and sometimes bad breath or constipation.
• Heat in the blood. Deeper, more constant redness, visible small vessels, and skin that feels hot or burns.
• Damp-heat from the digestion. Redness with bumps and pustules, an oily face, bloating or loose stools, often worse after rich food or alcohol.
• Liver Qi stagnation turning to heat. Flushing that follows stress, anger or strong emotion, often with irritability, poor sleep or, in women, flares around the period.

These patterns often overlap. Two people with the same red cheeks can need different formulas because the heat has a different source.

What treatment involves

The first visit is a full Chinese medicine assessment. Questions cover when and where you flush, what sets it off, and your digestion, sleep, stress and cycle. I look at your tongue and take your pulse. From that I write a diagnosis and a plan.

In Chinese medicine, Chinese herbal medicine is usually the main treatment for rosacea: a formula written for your pattern to clear heat and settle what is driving it, such as digestion or stress. Visits tend to be closer together at the start, while the formula is adjusted, and further apart once it is settled. Acupuncture may be added when stress, sleep or digestion are a big part of the picture. Plan on 5–10 treatments to judge progress.

The research is limited. The main review so far looked at Chinese medicine used alongside standard rosacea treatment, not instead of it, and found better results for redness, symptoms and quality of life. The authors caution that the trials were of low quality. There is very little research on acupuncture alone for rosacea. You can keep your dermatologist’s plan while trying Chinese medicine.

The clinic is in Keswick, and you can book an initial consultation online.

Between visits

• Keep a simple trigger diary. Common ones are sun, heat, hot drinks, spicy food, alcohol, strong tea and stress. Yours may be different.
• Wash your face with lukewarm water and a gentle, fragrance-free cleanser. Pat dry; don’t rub.
• Wear a broad-spectrum sunscreen every day, all year. Mineral sunscreens (zinc oxide, titanium dioxide) tend to sting less.
• Skip scrubs, toners with alcohol, and products with menthol, camphor or witch hazel.
• If you smoke, stopping helps your skin as well as everything else.

When to see your doctor first

• Eye symptoms: pain, light sensitivity, blurred vision or a red, gritty eye that doesn’t settle. Rosacea can affect the eyes and this needs prompt medical care.
• Thickening or swelling of the skin on the nose.
• Redness across the cheeks with joint pain, fatigue, fever or a rash elsewhere. These need checking for other conditions, such as lupus.
• Flushing with diarrhoea, wheezing or palpitations.
• You have never had the diagnosis confirmed. Several skin conditions look like rosacea.