Erysipelas
StarEssentials of Chinese Acupuncture (Beijing, Shanghai and Nanjing Colleges of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 1980) — the standard prescriptions of the Chinese colleges.
Points
-
He-Sea of the Large Intestine channel; clears heat from the affected channel
Reduce, or prick to bleed.
-
Yuan-Source of the Large Intestine; partners LI11 to drain channel heat
Reduce, or prick to bleed.
- Pregnancy: contraindicated
-
He-Sea of the Bladder; its superficial vein is bled to cool the blood
Venous pricking to let blood.
-
He-Sea of the Pericardium; bled at the cubital vein to cool the blood
Venous pricking to let blood.
Needling Safety
Cited hazards for these points. Tick what applies to the patient to see the cautions that follow from it.
Treatment Principle
Clear heat from the blood, working mainly through the Large Intestine channel.
Indications
Method
Reducing technique, or pricking to bleed, at the Large Intestine points; BL40 and PC3 are bled from their superficial veins.
⚠ Cautions
Erysipelas is a spreading bacterial infection; fever, rapid spread, facial involvement or systemic illness need medical assessment and usually antibiotics, with acupuncture only alongside. Bleeding techniques need sterile single-use lancets and care in patients on anticoagulants. LI4 is contraindicated in pregnancy.
About
The college prescription for erysipelas, which the book attributes to wind-heat or damp-heat entering the Large Intestine channel and infecting the blood.
Rationale
LI11 and LI4, the He-Sea and Yuan-Source points of the Large Intestine, drain the heat lodged in that channel. Letting blood from the veins at BL40 and PC3, both He-Sea points at the flexures of the knee and elbow, takes heat out of the blood itself. The pair of channel points and the pair of bled points together address both the channel and the blood level.
Clinical Notes
For erysipelas of the legs the book also allows the lesion itself to be pricked with the three-edged needle, or tapped with the cutaneous needle, to bleed; it stresses strict skin sterilisation beforehand to prevent infection.
Sources
- Beijing College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, et al. Essentials of Chinese Acupuncture. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1980. Chapter III, Erysipelas, p. 384–385.
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