Treatment of Pemphigus with Chinese Medicine

Pemphigus, like systemic lupus erythematosus, is an autoimmune disease. There are many types of it, and each has different clinical manifestations. Although the treatment methods are similar, there are also certain differences. Many Chinese medicine practitioners are good at treating this disease. They can adjust the body's immune system from the root. However, not every method of using medicine for herpes is similar. It still depends on the type of disease you have.

Traditional Chinese medicine believes that pemphigus is mostly caused by the reckless movement of heart fire, spleen deficiency and dysfunction, dampness stagnation inside the body, which turns into heat over time, and the steaming of heart fire and spleen dampness, as well as the external attack of wind-heat and summer-dampness, which invade the lung meridian and cannot be vented, and the fumigation is not resolved, and then it spreads out through the skin and causes the disease.

Traditional Chinese medicine divides pemphigus into six types

1. Heart and spleen damp-heat type

The rash is mainly bullous, with large erosions, more exudate, and often accompanied by mucosal damage.

(More common in pemphigus vulgaris and pemphigus vegetative, especially during acute attacks).

It is often accompanied by fever, irritability, thirst, poor appetite, fatigue, erosion of the mouth and tongue, short and dark urine, and dry and hard stools. The tongue is red, the tongue coating is yellow or white, and the pulse is moist and rapid or slippery and rapid.

2. Spleen deficiency and dampness excess type

Blisters and bullae are sparse, with new blisters appearing occasionally. The eroded surface is light red and not bright, with more exudate, and thick yellow-brown crusts or papillary proliferations (more common in the chronic stages of pemphigus vulgaris and vegetative pemphigus).

It is often accompanied by pale or sallow complexion, poor appetite, fatigue, and loose stools.

The tongue is pale red, the tongue coating is white and greasy, and the pulse is soft and slow.

3. Pemphigus vulgaris;

Blisters ranging in size from soybeans to broad beans, and sometimes up to walnuts, suddenly appear on the skin. The blister walls are mostly thin and loose. The blister fluid is clear at first, but later becomes turbid and contains blood. After the blisters rupture, scabs and erosions form on the blister fluid, which often have a peculiar fishy smell.

Under the action of external force, the epidermis is easily peeled off, or if the intact bulla is gently pressed, the blister fluid will diffuse from the pressure point to the surrounding area inside the bulla, which is a positive Nikolsky sign. The mechanism of its occurrence is due to the acantholysis of the epidermal spinous cells and the lack of cohesion of the epidermal cells.

4. Herpes vegetative

It is a variant of pemphigus vulgaris, with skin lesions often occurring on the head, face, armpits, chest and back. Initially, it presents as loose blisters with positive Nikolsky sign. After rupture, erosions form and the papillae become proliferative. The surface is dirty, crusted, and has a foul odor.

5. Pemphigus foliaceus:

Loose blisters appear on normal skin or erythema, characterized by easy rupture and formation of greasy crusts, localized or widespread exfoliation, and a fishy odor.

Sometimes the affected area has redness, swelling and leaf-like crusts, similar to exfoliative dermatitis lesions. Nikolsky sign is positive.

6. Erythematous pemphigus:

This disease is also called Sener-usher syndrome and seborrheic pemphigus. It is a variant of pemphigus foliaceus, characterized by erythema and small blisters. If Nikolsky's sign is positive, the disease may be covered with scales and crusts. It is prone to occur on the head, cheeks, chest and back.

The facial lesions are mostly butterfly-shaped erythema, which resembles lupus erythematosus.

The head, chest and back are often covered with seborrheic scabs, similar to seborrheic dermatitis.

Heat-clearing and spleen-strengthening soup: Artemisia capillaris, Radix Dipterocarpa, white moss peel, Atractylodes macrocephala, Coix seeds, Ophiopogon japonicus, Scrophularia ningpoensis, Dendrobium candidum, Radix Rehmanniae, Radix Pseudostellariae, Salvia miltiorrhizae, Phellodendron chinense, Lentils, Honeysuckle

Heat-clearing and spleen-strengthening soup: Angelica sinensis, raw rehmannia root, cooked rehmannia root, white peony root, polygonatum odoratum, honeysuckle, scutellaria baicalensis, Scrophularia ningpoensis, Ophiopogon japonicus, and raw licorice. Decoction in water, the residue can be boiled again, 1 dose per day.

Precautions

① Patients usually eat more high-calorie foods, such as honey, sugar, animal and vegetable oils, etc.

② Patients should eat more foods high in vitamins, such as cereals and fresh vegetables.

③Pay attention to a low-salt diet on a regular basis.