Psoriasis
Traditional Theory
Traditional Korean Medicine theory of Psoriasis
As with the above comparison to a dried out riverbed, if there is no water supplied to the surface earth, the soil will certainly become very dry dusty and become cracked. One way to make the dry and cracked riverbed into a moist and the nourishing soil is to supply plenty of water and nutrients to it. This phenomenon can also be correlated to symptom of psoriasis. Korean Medicine speculates that psoriasis is caused by a failing in the function of the nutrient supplying energy, the ‘Ying-Qi’. Since there are no nutrients and moisture coming from the body, the skin tends to turn into a scaly and dry state which manifests itself as scale patches and skin flakes. The defending Qi which is called ‘Wei- Qi’ that normally defends the body from external infiltration is also weakened. This results in allowing extrinsic factors like germs and viruses to intrude through the skin thus causing inflammations and immune responses.