Clinical efficacy of fumigation washing and wet compress with Xiaoyang Tuizhen formula combined with fire needle therapy for treating refractory facial eczema characterized by damp-heat syndrome
CHEN Mantao
Ayijiamili·Abra
ZHANG Candong
LIU Haifeng
GONG Dingrong
ZHANG Donghu
Abstract：Objective To investigate the clinical efficacy of fumigation washing and wet compress with Xiaoyang Tuizhen formula combined with fire needling in the treatment of refractory facial eczema characterized by damp-heat syndrome.Methods The clinical data of 183 patients with refractory facial eczema of damp-heat syndrome admitted from July 2022 to July 2024 were retrospectively selected.Among them,101 patients treated with fumigation washing and wet compress with Xiaoyang Tuizhen formula were enrolled as fumigation washing and wet compress group,and 82 patients treated with fumigation washing and wet compress and Xiaoyang Tuizhen formula combined with fire needling were enrolled as needling and medication combination group.Propensity score matching(PSM)was applied to perform 1:1 nearest neighbor matching between the two groups to obtain a sample with balanced variables between the groups,resulting in 74 patients in each group after matching.At 4 weeks after treatment,the clinical efficacy,traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)syndrome score,pruritus relief time,time to skin lesion reduction,eczema area and severity index(EASI)score,skin barrier function[transepidermal water loss(TEWL)value,sebum content,and stratum corneum water content]and adverse reactions were compared between the two groups.Results The total effective rate of the needling and medication combination group[95.95％(71/74)]was higher than that of the fumigation washing and wet compress group[83.78％(62/74)](P＜0.05).The effective rate of mild patients in both groups was 100％.Among moderate patients,the effective rate of needling and medication combination group[100.00％(46/46)]was higher than that of fumigation washing and wet compress group[87.76％(43/49)](P＜0.05).Among severe patients,there was no significant difference in the total effective rate between the two groups(P＞0.05).After treatment,the scores of skin lesions,persistent pruritus,fever with irritability,thirst with dry stool,short voiding of dark urine in the needling and medication combination group were lower than those in the fumigation washing and wet compress group(P＜0.05).After treatment,the pruritus relief time and time to skin lesion reduction in the needling and medication combination group were shorter than those in the fumigation washing and wet compress group,and the EASI score was lower than that in the fumigation washing and wet compress group(P＜0.05).After treatment,the TEWL of the needling and medication combination group was lower than that of the fumigation washing and wet compress group,while the sebum content and stratum corneum water content were higher than those of the fumigation washing and wet compress group(P＜0.05).There were no serious adverse reactions in both groups.Conclusion Fumigation washing and wet compress with Xiaoyang Tuizhen formula combined with fire needling can provides faster relief from pruritus in patients with refractory facial eczema of damp-heat syndrome,reduce the severity of skin lesions,improve TCM syndromes,and enhance skin barrier function,and the effect is more significant in patients with mild to moderate.
Keywords：eczemaXiaoyang Tuizhen formulafire needlingfumigation washing and wet compresspropensity score matching methodskin barriertraditional Chinese medicine syndromes
Publication Date：2026-01-13
Online Publishing Date：2026-01-23(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：7( 89-95 )