Is acne caused by spleen deficiency and dampness? What are the symptoms of spleen deficiency and dampness?

Acne on the face is not innate. For many people, acne appears suddenly in an instant. So, does acne mean spleen deficiency and dampness? What are the symptoms of spleen deficiency?

Traditional Chinese medicine believes that acne on the face is mostly caused by spleen deficiency and dampness.

Traditional Chinese medicine believes that spleen deficiency, dampness and heat are the main causes of acne. Common damp-heat include damp-heat in the upper burner, middle burner, and lower burner. Among them, damp-heat in the middle burner can be caused by spleen deficiency (the internal organs from the diaphragm to the navel are the middle burner, including the spleen, stomach, liver, gallbladder and other internal organs). Therefore, spleen deficiency can cause acne on the face.

What are the common symptoms of spleen deficiency?

In clinical practice of traditional Chinese medicine, spleen deficiency is divided into spleen qi deficiency and spleen yang deficiency, and there are different symptoms accordingly. The most common ones are indigestion, loss of appetite, mental depression, neurasthenia, memory loss, obesity and edema, irregular menstruation, drooling, acne, loose stools or dry stools and constipation, etc. The following are detailed descriptions:

1. Indigestion, obesity, edema, etc.

"Suwen Linglan Secret Classic" believes that: "The spleen and stomach are the organs of storage, and the five flavors come from them." This is one of the functions of the spleen, to transport and transform water and grain into essence to supply the whole body. Therefore, spleen deficiency will lead to poor transportation and transformation, resulting in symptoms such as loss of appetite, indigestion, abdominal distension, lack of energy, limb fatigue, shortness of breath and laziness to speak, weight loss, or obesity and edema.

When it comes to obesity and edema, it is not contradictory to being thin. Regarding obesity, "Su Wen" says: "The spleen governs the muscles of the whole body", which is also related to the spleen's transportation and transformation. If the spleen's transportation and transformation are strong, nutrients such as the essence of water and grain and body fluids will be transported to the whole body under the spleen's transportation and transformation, transformed into qi and blood and nourish the muscles, making them plump, developed, firm and strong. On the contrary, the muscles will become loose and the limbs will become weak, leading to puffiness. In addition, the spleen's transformation of water and grain includes the transformation of water and grains. If the spleen's ability to transport and transform water is insufficient, it will inevitably cause heavy moisture in the body, making it impossible for waste water to be discharged, resulting in edema; the latter will inevitably lead to the inability to decompose carbohydrates, fats, etc., thereby accumulating in the body and nourishing under the meat, causing obesity and puffiness like a hollow radish.

2. Irregular menstruation, etc.

The description of the spleen in "Nanjing No. 42 Difficulty" is: it is responsible for wrapping blood and warming the five internal organs. This is the second function of the spleen, which is to regulate blood. The spleen has the function of controlling the flow of blood in the meridians and preventing it from escaping from the meridians. If the spleen is deficient, the production of vital energy will be insufficient, which will affect the spleen's control over blood, thus causing symptoms such as blood circulation problems and irregular menstruation.

3. Neurasthenia, memory loss, etc.

"Suwen·The Great Treatise on the Correspondence of Yin and Yang" and "Suwen·The Great Treatise on the Five Movements" mention that "the spleen is responsible for thinking in terms of will", so excessive thinking will damage the spleen. "Nanjing·The Thirty-fourth Difficulty" says: The spleen stores will and wisdom. Therefore, the spleen is closely related to a person's thinking, thoughts, will, memory, attention, etc., so spleen deficiency can easily lead to symptoms such as neurasthenia, memory loss, inattention, dizziness and fatigue.

4. You tend to drool while sleeping

According to the theory of the five internal organs transforming fluids: sweat is the fluid of the heart, mucus is the fluid of the lungs, saliva is the fluid of the spleen, tears are the fluid of the liver, and spit is the fluid of the kidneys. The so-called saliva is saliva. Under normal circumstances, saliva flows up in the mouth and does not flow out. If the spleen is weak, it will cause the muscles to relax, and they will unconsciously open during sleep, causing saliva to flow out.

5. Loose stools or constipation

Loose and unformed stools indicate spleen yang deficiency. Spleen deficiency and dampness lead to the weakened ability of the spleen to transport and transform food and water, which makes food not be digested well and waste water in the body not be excreted well, resulting in unformed, sticky, damp and heavy stools, which Chinese medicine calls loose stools. There are also cases where the stool is dry every few days, the diet is spicy, the spleen is weak, and the intestinal peristalsis is slow, and toxins cannot be excreted in time every day.