Neurodermatitis

Neurodermatitis is a kind of chronic skin disease with pruritic inflammation. It is characterized by episodes of itching and lichenification on the skin. The disease has a chronic course with frequent relapses. There is no tendency to seep. It can be divided into local and disseminated types.

Main Points of Diagnosis

1. Local neurodermatitis

1) At first, the patient feels intermittent itching on the affected part of the skin, then round clusters or polyangled pink papulae covered with scanty fine scales appear.

2) The skin will become thick, dry and rough at the advanced stage as a result of scratching and lichenoid skin lesion will be formed It looks like the skin of a cow's neck.

3) Paroxysmal itching will be present.

4) The course of the sickness is chronic, This disease attacks and relapses frequently. It often occurs on the neck, elbow, knee and sacrum or cocryx and is serious in summer and mild in winter.

2. Neurodermatitis disseminata

1) At first, the skin becomes diffusely red and clusters of papules appear on it. The lichenification appears on the affected part of the skin at the advanced stage, too.

2) Paroxysmal itching will be present.

3) The skin lesion is rather large and can spread over to the whole body, especially on the trunk and extensor side of limbs. 

Differentiation and Treatment of Common Syndromes   

1. Internal Treatment

1) Wind-Heat Type

Main Symptoms and Signs: There is a sensation of paroxysmal itching on the affected part. The skin is reddish and crowds of papulae appear on it. The tongue is red and the pulse is taut and rapid.

therapeutic Principle: Removing heat from the blood to promote blood circulation, and clearing away pathogenic heat and expelling pathogenic wind.

recipe: Decoction of Dittany Bark

dried rehmannia root

red peony root

red sage root

honeysuckle flower

dittany bark

Chinese angelica root

scutellaria root

cicada slough

atractylodes rhizome

shizonepeta

ledebouriella root

All the above herbs are to be decocted in water for oral administration.

2) Wind-Dryness Type

Main Symptoms and Signs: There is a sensation of paroxysmal itching. The skin is thick, rough, and dry with fine and broken scurf, accompanied with irritability, insomnia with thin fur on the tongue and lack of saliva and thready pulse.

Therapeutic Principle: Enriching the blood and moistening the dryness, and promoting blood circulation and expelling pathogenic wind.

Recipe: Powder of Four Main Herbs for Expelling Pathogenic Wind

dried rehmannia root

Chinese angelica root

red peony root

ligusticum rhizome

schizonepeta

ledebouriella root

dittany bark

notopterygium root or rhizome

peppermint

cicada slough

bupleurum root

Chinese date

All the above herbs are to be decocted in water for oral administration.

2. External Treatment

1) Use Itching-Stopping Lotion to wash the affected part.

2) Put Red Powder on the affected part, and then scrub the affected part by hands for five minutes, three times a day. Be sure to wash your hands after treating.