Treatment for Hives, Why Does It Keep Coming Back?
Table of Contents
- Table of Contents
- 1. Hives, a skin secret you want to hide
- 2. Analyzing allergic constitution through Korean Medicine
- 3. Medicinal therapy to eliminate 濕 (dampness) and cool 熱 (heat)
- 4. Regulating Qi and blood through acupoint selection to suppress inflammation
- 5. Need for lifestyle changes to avoid allergy-inducing factors
- 6. Accompanying hives toward healthy skin
Hello. I am Director Choi Yeon-seung. Today, I would like to talk about cases where hives recur frequently.
Table of Contents
- Hives, a skin secret you want to hide
- Analyzing allergic constitution through Korean Medicine
- Medicinal therapy to eliminate 濕 (dampness) and cool 熱 (heat)
- Regulating Qi and blood through acupoint selection to suppress inflammation
- Need for lifestyle changes to avoid allergy-inducing factors
- Accompanying hives toward healthy skin
1. Hives, a skin secret you want to hide
"It feels like heat rashes bloom once every month or two. Red spots appear all over my body, and I often lose sleep at night due to the itching. When symptoms are severe, my lips swell and it's accompanied by difficulty breathing, which is frightening."
Hives are a condition where red wheals with clear boundaries protrude on the skin. They mainly appear and disappear paroxysmally along with itching. In addition to skin symptoms, angioedema can cause the eyelids or lips to swell. In some cases, systemic symptoms such as respiratory symptoms, abdominal pain, or dizziness may accompany them.
2. Analyzing allergic constitution through Korean Medicine
In Korean Medicine, hives are viewed within the categories of 風疹 (wind rash) and 癮疹 (urticaria). While they can occur due to the attack of 外感 (external) pathogenic factors such as 風 (wind), 濕 (dampness), and 熱 (heat), it is also believed that internal 濕熱 (damp-heat) caused by a dysfunction in the 運化 (transportation and transformation) function of the 脾 (spleen) or an abnormality in the 疏泄 (dredging and discharging) function of the 肝 (liver) causes skin diseases.
3. Medicinal therapy to eliminate 濕 (dampness) and cool 熱 (heat)
The first step in herbal medicine treatment for hives is pattern identification into 風熱血燥型 (wind-heat and blood-dryness type) and 脾虛濕蘊型 (spleen deficiency and dampness accumulation type). The 風熱型 (wind-heat type) is common in the acute phase, and symptoms involving 濕 (dampness) become more prominent as it progresses to chronic.
4. Regulating Qi and blood through acupoint selection to suppress inflammation
Through acupuncture treatment, the function of the 脾 (spleen) is boosted by stimulating 經穴 (meridian points) such as 足三里 (Zusanli), 曲池 (Quchi), and 陽陵泉 (Yanglingquan). 合谷 (Hegu) or 外關 (Waiguan) have excellent 止痒 (anti-pruritic) effects and also have the effect of managing 肝火 (liver fire) by regulating the 氣機 (Qi mechanism) of the 肝經 (liver meridian).
5. Need for lifestyle changes to avoid allergy-inducing factors
Hives are a chronic disease with frequent recurrences. Fundamental improvement of the constitution is possible only when careful lifestyle management is carried out in parallel with medicinal treatment.
6. Accompanying hives toward healthy skin
"As I improved my constitution with herbal medicine and developed lifestyle habits to avoid triggering factors, the hives gradually subsided. As I gained peace of mind, the itching also felt much better. Now, rather than fighting hives, I have learned how to live with them."
Hives are just a small part revealed on the skin; they are a signal revealing the overall imbalance of our body. Simply suppressing the itching and hiding the erythema is not the ultimate solution.
