If you’re dealing with acne, there’s a good chance that you’re tired of applying topical treatments without any of them working on getting you rid of your acne. Not only is it stressful, but buying topical treatments can also be expensive.
Recently, a new way of taking care of acne is being used by many people, and it’s a very unorthodox method: acupuncture.
Acupuncture is a practice in traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) that’s supposed to work by stimulating specific points in the body to improve the flow of qi or energy all throughout the body.
In some ways, acupuncturists can help you by stimulating some pressure points to lessen acne symptoms. Sometimes, acne can be caused by hormonal imbalance, which is a condition that acupuncture is known for handling.
By improving blood circulation and reducing inflammation, acupuncture can be an effective way of reducing acne. If you’ve tried every topical treatment already, acupuncture might just be the key for you.
Acupuncture against acne rosacea
Traditional Chinese medicine considers acne rosacea a condition induced by heat. Actually, TCM believes that most conditions that cause redness are due to heat. By using acupuncture to stimulate pressure points, TCM believes that it can relieve heat that causes acne flare-up, and it’s not just for the face, as acupuncture has this benefit on the body in general.
Because these conditions are due to overall system imbalances, acupuncture, as a full-body treatment, can fight them.
However, while research shows that patients struggling with acne had benefited when they tried acupuncture, it’s still inconclusive because a much larger sample size is needed.
Acupuncture against hormonal acne
Hormonal acne flares up when your body hormones fluctuate, which is often caused by life and body processes like menstruation, pregnancy, and menopause. Acupuncture won’t solve acne, but it can solve your hormonal fluctuations, which might be what’s triggering your acne.
With acupuncture being great at regulating hormone imbalances, it can remove your acne. Also, it’s not just your acne that acupuncture can fix. It can also control other conditions caused by hormone imbalance, such as weight gain and fatigue, among others.
Healing acne scars
After dealing with acne, the next problem that you have to worry about is if acne scars develop on your skin.
What might help you regarding acne scars is that acupuncture accelerates the body’s healing response due to the number of tiny needles put under the skin for each acupuncture session. These tiny wounds are met with an accelerated healing response, which your acne scars can also take advantage of.
According to studies, acupuncture can help increase the body’s collagen production. Some studies also say that acupuncture can help diabetic patients with their skin wounds. While these are all significant advantages, a larger sample size is needed to gain conclusive evidence to prove this.
It’s also why acupuncture reduces lines and wrinkles on the skin, as it can break down the skin’s built-up fibrosis and adhesions found in scars.
Acupuncture against psoriasis
Psoriasis is a skin condition that’s very difficult to handle, as it can cause itching, swelling, redness, and even pain.
Psoriasis is an autoimmune disease that gets even worse with more hotness and dryness. As pointed out earlier in this article, acupuncture is good at reducing body heat.
Acupuncture against allergies
Traditional Chinese medicine believes that allergies may be caused by imbalances in the body’s immune system. If there’s something often repeated in TCM, balance in the body is essential, which is where acupuncture excels.
When you go to a professional acupuncturist, they can find the correct points to stimulate to bring balance back. In turn, this will allow your immune system to work better, leading to lessen allergies.
Cosmetic acupuncture vs. regular acupuncture
Cosmetic acupuncture is focused on improving your appearance. On the other hand, regular acupuncture doesn’t focus on just one area; instead, it takes care of the whole body. Of course, while you can concentrate on cosmetic appearance for acne, going all out on regular acupuncture has more benefits for you to reap in terms of your complete well-being.
Finding acupuncture professionals
When looking for an acupuncturist, the first consideration you have to think about is making sure that they are licensed professionals. Another thing to consider is going to an acupuncturist who specializes in treating acne and other skin conditions.
Also, don’t forget to look at your insurance, as some insurance plans cover treatments like acupuncture.
Safety first
While acupuncture is a safe treatment, it doesn’t mean that you don’t have to do anything to make yourself safer.
In terms of safety, the most common risk in acupuncture treatment is bruising, which can be painful. To avoid this, make sure that your acupuncturist is knowledgeable and experienced, as they will know which acupoints to treat and how to treat them in a way that doesn’t result in bruising.
It’s very safe, but you won’t lose anything by playing it safer.
Other benefits of acupuncture
Acne care is just one of the areas where acupuncture is claimed to help. Going to an acupuncturist has many other health benefits, such as:
- Stress relief
- Pain relief
- Alleviating digestive conditions
- Better mental clarity
- Increased energy
If you want a new way of treating your acne or if you want to know how acupuncture can help you, it’s always best to talk to a professional acupuncturist from your trusted Perth acupuncture clinic so that you can get more knowledge from TCM and acupuncture experts in Perth.
