Clinical efficacy of catgut embedding combined with thunder-fire moxibustion in treatment of melasma

Abstract

Objective To investigate the clinical effect of treating melasma by catgut embedding combined with thunder-fire moxibustion and acupuncture. Methods Between September 2011 to December 2012, 82 cases of melasma patients in Acupuncture Department of Tongren Hospital were randomly recruited into test group (42 cases) and control group (40 cases). Test group was treated by catgut embedding combined with thunder-fire moxibustion and other 40 cases of control group were treated by common acupuncture. Then therapy effects were observed 8 weeks after treatments. Results In test group, general efficient rate of 42 cases was 97.6%, cure rate was 23.8%; in control group, general efficient rate of 40 cases was 72.5%, and cure rate was 15%. By statistical analysis, the effect of the test group was obviously higher than that of the control group (P<0.05). Conclusions The treatment of melasma by catgut embedding combined with thunder fire moxibustion achieves more effective outcomes than common acupuncture. Key words: Melasma; Thunder-fire moxibustion; Catgut embedding