Case Report: Ear Acupuncture Therapy for Psoriasis

Abstract

Psoriasis is an inflammatory chronic disease affecting both genders, approximately 2-3% of the world population. Although there are different clinical forms of psoriasis, the most common type is Psoriasis vulgaris. It presents skin patches typically red, itchy and scaly and different levels of severity and extension, established clinically by Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI). Because of these facts, there are many types of interventions focused on your treatment, looking for effectiveness and safety. The immunomodulatory effect of acupuncture has been proven experimentally in the control of inflammation and analgesia, however there are few studies that evaluate the ear acupuncture as treatment in autoimmune diseases and its pathological processes. Six patients with different degrees of PASI were treated with ear acupuncture using the points: Shemen, Kidney, Sympathetic Nervous System, Occipital, Adrenal, Allergy, Anxiety, Local Point, Hives and Tension for fourteen weeks or until symptoms disappeared. These cases showed that ear acupuncture therapy can be effective in the treatment of psoriasis at different stages. While the patients in the early stage of symptoms, even if was relapse, respond quickly to treatment, it was observed the clinical response of a patient with severe erythematous psoriasis (PASI 25.8), resistant to other treatments, significantly regressed after 14 weeks (2.4 PASI). The results indicate the importance of the development of a case-control design, to confirm the indication of this kind of therapy to Psoriasis vulgaris.