Clinical observation on the effect of electroacupuncture treatment for chloasma in young and middle-aged women: 电针治疗中青年女性黄褐斑的临床疗效观察

Abstract

ObjectiveTo evaluate the clinical effect of electroacupuncture treatment for chloasma in young and middle-aged women. MethodsSixty young and middle-aged female patients with chloasma were divided into treatment group (n = 30) and control group (n = 30) according to random number table. In the treatment group, the electroacupuncture was applied to the facial acupoints and “Vagus” in the cavity of concha in the ear. The selection of facial acupoints was relating to the running course of facial nerve trunk: Yìfēng (翳风 TE17), Shàngguān (上关 GB3)—Sīzhúkōng (丝竹空 TE 23) (Temporal branch), Xiàguān (下关 ST7)—Sìbái (四白 ST2) (Zygomatic branch), Qiānzhèng (牵正 Extra) —Quánliáo (颧髎 SI18) (Zygomatic branch), Jiāchē (颊车 ST6) —Jiāchéngjiāng (夹承浆Extra) (Buccal branch), Hégǔ (合谷LI 4). Electro-stimulation was adopted at “Vagus” in the cavity of concha in the ear (two distribution points of the vagus in the cavity of concha of each ear). The control group received conventional acupuncture (surrounding method of needling at the Ashi points in the facial lesion area and 15 acupoints which were selected in the highest frequency in the conventional acupuncture treatment). After 8 weeks of treatment, the clinical effects were compared.The total score of facial skin lesion, score of skin lesion color, score of lesion area, and effective rate of treatment for chloasma were used to evaluate the clinical effect of the two groups before and after treatment. ResultsAfter treatment, the effective rate of the treatment group was 95.00%, that of the control group was 67.50%. The effect of the treatment group was better than that of the control group, and the difference was statistically significant (χ2 = 9.928, P = 0.002). Before treatment, there was no difference in the area score, color score, and total score of skin lesions between the two groups (P>0.05). After treatment, the area score, color score, and total score of skin lesions in the treatment group were (1.05±0.64), (1.05±0.64), and (2.10±0.98) points respectively, while those in the control group were (1.38±0.63), (1.28±0.75), and (2.65±1.19) points respectively.The area score, color score, and total score of skin lesions in the treatment group were lower than those in the control group, with statistically significant differences (all P<0.05). Conclusionelectroacupuncture is more effective than conventional acupuncture in treating chloasma in young and middle-aged women.