Blog & Columns
Useful information about health and Korean medicine.
Total 712 posts
Demodex Mites?! The Cause of Rosacea and Facial Flushing?
Understanding Demodex mites and Demodicosis...
Scalp Eczema, Scalp Psoriasis, Seborrheic Dermatitis, Contact Dermatitis – What's the Difference?
This image displays characteristics of scalp psoriasis and scalp atopic dermatitis. The left side illustrates scalp psoriasis, while the right shows features of scalp atopic dermatitis. You can observe that scalp psoriasis typically has clearer, more defined borders, accompanied by dead skin cells and scaling. In contrast, with atopic dermatitis, the eczema is also seen to extend to the face and ear areas...
Palm Blisters, Sole Blisters? Dyshidrosis?!
<b>Dyshidrosis</b> is one of the skin conditions frequently encountered at Korean medicine clinics. <b>Dyshidrosis</b> refers to an inflammatory skin disease characterized by blisters that primarily appear on the hands and feet...
Headache and Migraine Causes?
Over the past decade or so, many studies have been conducted on the mechanisms of headaches and migraines, allowing us to understand much more about headaches than ever before. Now, let's delve into why headaches occur and what various causes can trigger them....
What's Important in Wart Treatment
As is well known, warts are an infectious skin disease of the skin caused by Human Papillomavirus (HPV). There are over 100 diverse types of HPV, and the areas of infection also vary widely....
What Causes Psoriasis? Keratin Hyperkeratosis
Today, we will be discussing keratin, one of the topics related to psoriasis. Keratin is one of the components that make up the cytoskeleton. The cytoskeleton refers to the components that cells use to maintain their three-dimensional shape and structure. It's much like the rebar and cement used to build the framework of a building...
Psoriasis Types and Causes
In psoriatic skin, changes in keratin are observed. Specifically, a shift from K10 to K16 and K17 occurs, leading to scaling, hyperkeratosis, and increased epidermal thickness, among other changes....
The effectiveness of acupuncture treatment for insomnia at a Korean medicine clinic?!
Insomnia is one of the typical neuropsychiatric symptoms, and a great many people suffer from it. It primarily manifests as sleep onset insomnia (difficulty falling asleep), sleep maintenance insomnia (falling asleep but frequently waking up during the night and having trouble falling back asleep), and the resulting quantitative and qualitative deficiency of sleep leads to daytime sleepiness, fatigue, and other main...
Guttate Psoriasis and Pityriasis Rosea
Even within psychiatry, diagnoses are categorized based on various symptom patterns. However, in actual clinical practice, we more often see cases where multiple symptoms are intertwined, including anxiety, depression, and sleep disorders like insomnia. We also observe instances where conditions like panic disorder are diagnosed somewhat simplistically, more so than one might expect....
Plaque Psoriasis, Nummular Eczema, Pityriasis Rosea
In the previous post, I mentioned that differentiating atypical papulosquamous disease is not easy with the naked eye alone. View previous post...
Whiteheads, Pus-filled Acne, and Acne Marks
Acne generally progresses through the following stages: <ul> <li><b>Comedone Stage</b>: This is an early stage where sebum, dead skin cells, and bacteria accumulate inside the hair follicle, clogging the pore. Comedones primarily appear in two forms. <ul> <li><b>Whiteheads</b>: These are closed comedones where the pore is completely blocked, trapping sebum beneath the skin's surface, appearing as small, white bumps.</li> <li><b>Blackheads</b>: These are open comedones where the pore is partially open, allowing sebum to oxidize upon contact with air, causing it to appear dark. This color change is due to oxidation, not dirt.</li> </ul> </li> <li><b>Inflammatory Stage</b>: As comedones progress, the hair follicle wall ruptures, allowing sebum, dead skin cells, and bacteria to leak into the surrounding skin tissue, triggering an inflammatory response. The following lesions appear during this stage. <ul> <li><b>Papules</b>: These are small, red, raised lesions that may be tender to the touch. They do not contain pus.</li> <li><b>Pustules</b>: Similar to papules, but with a yellow or white center filled with pus.</li> <li><b>Nodules</b>: These are large, firm, painful, lump-like lesions located deep within the skin. They may contain pus.</li> <li><b>Cysts</b>: These are large, painful, sac-like lesions located deep within the skin, filled with pus and sebum. They are larger and deeper than nodules and are more likely to cause scarring.</li> </ul> </li> <li><b>Scar Formation Stage</b>: During the healing process of severe inflammatory acne lesions, skin tissue can be damaged, and collagen production may become abnormal, leading to scar formation. Scars can appear in various forms. <ul> <li><b>Atrophic Scars</b>: These are indented scars, including 'ice pick scars,' 'boxcar scars,' and 'rolling scars.' They result from collagen loss.</li> <li><b>Hypertrophic Scars and Keloid Scars</b>: These are raised scars, resulting from excessive collagen production. Keloids are characterized by their tendency to extend beyond the original injury site into the surrounding skin.</li> </ul> </li> </ul>
Atopic Eczema: Skin Barrier Strengthening and pH
Skin is not a dead shell. In a previous post, I discussed skin barrier function and pH conditioning. In this post, we will delve deeper into the role of pH in the skin barrier....