Last night, I spent some time googling the term “psoriasis treatment” to see what would come up. It amazed me to find that so many websites were selling external remedies for psoriasis, with such promises as “Psoriasis Spot Free in 30 Days”. Most of these remedies were natural or herbal. From personally treating so many cases of psoriasis, and knowing how stubborn and virulent psoriasis can be, when I read these claims, I feel quite outraged. Folks, there is no magic bullet to treat psoriasis! Any effective treatment of psoriasis needs to be done so on an “individual” basis, as the manifestation of differing types of psoriatic lesions is quite large. Treatment needs to mirror the individual.
When I use the traditional techniques of Chinese medicine to treat psoriasis, I need to take so many different qualities into account. I need to know if the lesions are actue or chronic, whether they are itchy or not, how widespread they are, where they are located, the actual colour of the plaques, the thickness and colour of the scale, how superficial or deep the lesions look, whether or not a kobner sign is present, and how easily the lesions bleed when scratched (called an auspitz sign). I then need to inquire about the persons sleep, ability to sweat, thirst levels, bowel movements, urination, and energy levels. All of this information is then analyzed and a unique pattern is determined. Based on that pattern, the treatment can be properly designed. Both internal and externally applied herbal remedies (pulling from 400 or so different herbal medicines- not just one or two) are then tailor fit to the individual, based on the pattern that was determined. In this way the ability to clear psoriasis is enhanced and is more successful.
Psoriasis has been treated successfully for thousands of years in Asia with herbal medicine. The way to do so has been documented and replicated all this time. Doctor after Doctor all agree in Chinese Medicine, that the treatment of psoriasis is based on the “differentiation of syndromes” or the patterns that are established from the various symptoms manifesting. There is no “one size fits all” treatment for psoriasis.
When you buy a random product which promises to treat your psoriasis, this is like playing a game of russian roulette. It may work and you may feel like you stumbled across the best thing ever. But the long history of Chinese medicine has shown that no one product is good for any one person. Your treatment needs to be based on your individual symptoms. You are not just another brick in the wall, where by you and your neighbour are identical clones of each other!
A good and effective treatment of psoriasis will take into account; you as an individual, will understand the systemic nature of psoriasis and will utilize both internal and external remedies, and will have a realistic time frame of say 3 to 6 months for clearing (not just thirty days!)
Dr. Trevor Erikson
Copyright © 2019 Dr. Trevor Erikson