Exploring the effectiveness of Traditional Chinese Medicine in alleviating eczema symptoms: a comprehensive study

Abstract

Eczema, also known as atopic dermatitis (AD), is a non-contagious chronic inflammatory skin condition normally associated with a personal or family history of related atopic conditions such as asthma (AS) or allergic rhinitis (AR). In the context of Singapore, the most common western treatment for AD would be the use of topical corticosteroids and oral antihistamines with its known side-effects. Alternatively, patients also seek other forms of treatment including dietary control and the consumption of Chinese Herbs (CH). This study aims to determine the efficacy of CH with a non-randomized study (NRS) involving 50 patients with moderate to severe AD over the course of 8 weeks. The results of this NRS were assessed using the Severity Scoring of Atopic Dermatitis (SCORAD) as the primary outcome measure followed by Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) as the secondary. The results provided valuable insights into the usage of CH in alleviating AD symptoms. It also provides an alternate perspective towards AD pathology from the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) standpoint. However, due to the limitations of this study such as observational time constraint, further investigations are still required for a definitive result.