Facial Dermatitis That Worsens If You Stop Taking Your Medication | Incheon Dermatitis
Table of Contents
- "At night, my face itches and stings as if it's on fire. It even oozes, and while prescribed ointments offer temporary relief, stopping them makes it flare up even worse."
- [Glossary: Dohaekseunggitang (桃核承氣湯)] This formula, recorded in the 'Shanghan Lun' (《傷寒論》 Treatise on Cold Damage), aims to treat the condition of 'Xia Jiao Chu Xue' (下焦蓄血), which is a combination of blood stasis (Eohyeol) in the lower abdomen and heat toxins in the large intestine. Its principle is not merely to suppress symptoms, but to clear blockages and restore circulation, thereby enabling the body to regain its own balance.
"At night, my face itches and stings as if it's on fire. It even oozes, and while prescribed ointments offer temporary relief, stopping them makes it flare up even worse."
For the past year, the life of Ms. A, a researcher in her mid-20s, has been like living with a burning fire on her face. Last fall, a small skin issue that began on her cheeks spread beyond her nasolabial folds, mouth, and eyes, reaching her neck and gradually encroaching upon her daily life.
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Dermatologists suspected atopic dermatitis or rosacea, but a clear diagnosis proved difficult. Prescribed steroid ointments seemed to temporarily quell the inflammation, but they failed to provide a fundamental solution. Instead, discontinuing the medication led to a rebound phenomenon, where the inflammation flared up even more intensely than before, suspected to be steroid withdrawal symptoms. |
The true cause of the problem lies not in the face, where symptoms dramatically appear, but in the deepest and quietest part of our body: the 'lower abdomen.' This is akin to a situation where inexplicable fires repeatedly break out on the top floor of an apartment building, yet the root cause is a complete failure of the circulation pump in the first-floor boiler room. Three clear signals from Ms. A's body support this hypothesis.
First, extreme temperature imbalance. Ms. A's hands and feet were so cold they felt chilled even in mid-summer, while her face and upper body constantly suffered from a hot sensation. In traditional Korean medicine (TKM), this is seen as a state of 'Shang Re Xia Han' (上熱下寒), where the body's upper-lower circulation 'highway' is blocked. This aligns with peripheral vasoconstriction and blood flow pooling in the upper body due to autonomic nervous system dysregulation, serving as strong evidence that inflammation within the body is not being properly expelled.
Second, chronic constipation. Ms. A suffered from severe constipation, managing to have a bowel movement only once or twice a month. With the large intestine, our body's largest 'sewer,' completely blocked, unexpelled food waste and 'heat toxins' (熱毒) exacerbated intestinal microbial imbalance. The toxins generated from this imbalance traveled through the bloodstream, becoming fuel that ignited the inflammation on her face.
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Third, stagnation of blood circulation in the lower abdomen. Severe menstrual cramps and clotted menstrual blood indicate that blood circulation around the pelvic region is also sluggishly stagnant. In traditional Korean medicine (TKM), this is called 'Eohyeol' (瘀血) or 'blood stasis.' This 'Eohyeol' makes the lower abdomen colder and more severely blocked, creating an environment where pathological heat is compelled to rise upwards. |
If Ms. A's problem were merely a skin issue, it should have consistently responded to powerful anti-inflammatory steroids. However, the fact that it did not is crucial counter-evidence, suggesting that the root of this condition lies much deeper.
Therefore, the essence of treatment is not to directly extinguish the fire on the face, but to restore the circulation in the 'first-floor circulation pump' – in other words, the lower abdomen. Dohaekseunggitang (Taohe Chengqi Tang) is a prescription designed to perform precisely this role. This formula is not a medication that acts directly on the skin; rather, it functions more like a system engineer that corrects the body's fundamental circulatory system.
[Glossary: Dohaekseunggitang (桃核承氣湯)] This formula, recorded in the 'Shanghan Lun' (《傷寒論》 Treatise on Cold Damage), aims to treat the condition of 'Xia Jiao Chu Xue' (下焦蓄血), which is a combination of blood stasis (Eohyeol) in the lower abdomen and heat toxins in the large intestine. Its principle is not merely to suppress symptoms, but to clear blockages and restore circulation, thereby enabling the body to regain its own balance.
Within the formula, 'Da Huang' (大黃, Rhubarb) and 'Mang Xiao' (芒硝, Mirabilite/Glauber's Salt) promote intestinal peristalsis, efficiently expelling blocked heat toxins and waste products from the large intestine. 'Tao Ren' (桃仁, Peach Kernel) breaks down and dissolves the sticky blood stasis (Eohyeol) in the lower abdomen, which causes menstrual pain. Finally, 'Gui Zhi' (桂枝, Cinnamon Twig) dilates peripheral blood vessels, unblocking the 'highway' of upper-lower circulation that was previously obstructed, and redirects the heat that was only rising to the face back down to the fingertips. This is one of the core principles of traditional Eohyeol (blood stasis) removal methods.
Once the lower body is unblocked and circulation resumes, the heat that caused the unexplained recurrence of facial dermatitis will naturally settle back into its proper place. This is a fundamental approach that addresses the root of the illness, rather than merely suppressing symptoms.
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[Final Question] Armed with this new perspective, the question you should ask a professional will no longer be, 'Which ointment should I apply?' Instead, you now have the power to ask a more fundamental question, such as, 'What approach is needed to improve my body's upper-lower circulation imbalance and resolve chronic stagnation in my lower abdomen?' This truly marks the beginning of real change. |