What psoriasis is
Psoriasis is a long-term immune condition. Skin cells turn over far faster than normal and pile up into raised, red or silvery, scaly plaques, often on the elbows, knees, scalp and low back. It tends to flare and quiet down, often with stress, infection, injury to the skin or cold, dry weather. Some people also develop psoriatic arthritis, so new joint pain or swelling belongs with your physician or rheumatologist. Creams, light therapy, tablets and biologic injections are the dermatology path, and they stay in place.
Reading the plaques
Classical dermatology reads psoriasis through the blood and its stage. New, spreading, bright red plaques that itch, with heat, thirst or irritability, are blood heat, often stirred by stress or a recent illness. Plaques that have stopped spreading but stay pale, dry and flaky, worse in winter, are blood dryness: the heat has burned off moisture. Thick, dark, stubborn plaques that barely move are blood stasis. Most long-standing cases mix two of these, and the leading one sets the formula.
How we work with it
Herbs lead, built for the stage: in a hot phase a practitioner might cool the blood around Rehmannia (shēng dì huáng, 生地黃); in a dry one, nourish it with a formula from the Four Substance (Sì Wù Tāng, 四物湯) family; and when plaques thicken, move it. Acupuncture supports sleep and stress and the pattern, and cupping on the back may be used in heat cases.
Food follows the stage. Hot phases usually call for less alcohol, red meat, spicy and fried food; dry phases for more moistening foods and healthy fats. See dietary therapy. Psoriasis is also covered under immune and inflammation.
We keep track with you of new plaques, itch and scaling, and adjust as the stage changes.
Formulas here illustrate how pattern diagnosis shapes treatment. They are not recommendations; a practitioner selects and adjusts formulas for the individual.
Questions people ask
Can Chinese medicine help psoriasis?
Classical herbs and acupuncture are studied as supportive care for psoriasis, and research is ongoing. We read the stage and pattern of your skin and treat that, alongside your dermatologist, without promises about how your skin will change.
I take a biologic or methotrexate. Can I take herbs?
Possibly, but only after every formula is checked against your medications, and with your dermatologist or rheumatologist aware of it. We never ask you to stop or change a prescription.
Is stress part of psoriasis?
Many people notice flares after stress, illness or poor sleep. In the classical reading, constrained qi turning to heat is one of the ways stress reaches the blood, so we work on sleep and stress as part of the plan.
When should I see my doctor quickly?
Red, inflamed skin over most of the body with chills or fever, widespread pus-filled bumps, or new swollen, painful joints should go to your physician or dermatologist right away.
This is general wellness information, not medical advice.
