Hives Treatment: Why Do They Keep Recurring?

Hello. This is Director Choi Yeon-seung. Today, I'd like to talk about cases where hives frequently recur.

Table of Contents

1. Hives, the Skin's Secret You Want to Hide
2. Allergic Constitution, Explored Through Traditional Korean Medicine
3. Herbal Treatment to Eliminate Dampness (濕) and Clear Heat (熱)
4. Regulating Qi and Blood and Suppressing Inflammation Through Acupoint Selection
5. The Need for Lifestyle Changes to Avoid Allergy Triggers
6. A Journey with Hives Towards Healthy Skin

1. Hives, the Skin's Secret You Want to Hide

"It feels like I get hives every one or two months. Red spots appear all over my body, and the itching often keeps me up at night. When symptoms are severe, my lips swell, and it's accompanied by shortness of breath, which frightens me."

Hives (urticaria) is a condition characterized by the sudden appearance of well-demarcated, red, raised welts (wheals) on the skin. They typically appear abruptly with itching and then disappear. In addition to skin symptoms, angioedema can cause swelling of the eyelids or lips. Systemic symptoms such as respiratory issues, abdominal pain, or dizziness may also accompany it.

2. Allergic Constitution, Explored Through Traditional Korean Medicine

In Traditional Korean Medicine (TKM), hives are categorized as *pungjin* (風疹, Wind Rash) and *eunjin* (癮疹, Hidden Rash). While they can be caused by an invasion of external pathogenic factors (外感邪氣, *oegam sagi*) such as Wind (風, *pung*), Dampness (濕, *seup*), and Heat (熱, *yeol*), it is also believed that underlying Damp-Heat (濕熱, *seupyeol*) resulting from dysfunction in the Spleen's (脾, *bi*) transportation and transformation function (運化機能, *unhwa gineung*) or abnormalities in the Liver's (肝, *gan*) dispersing function (疏泄機能, *soseol gineung*) causes skin conditions.

3. Herbal Treatment to Eliminate Dampness (濕) and Clear Heat (熱)

The first step in Traditional Korean Medicine (TKM) treatment for hives is pattern differentiation (변증, *byeonjeung*) into Wind-Heat-Blood Dryness pattern (風熱血燥型, *pungyeol hyeoljo hyeong*) and Spleen Deficiency-Dampness Accumulation pattern (脾虛濕蘊型, *biheo seupun hyeong*). In the acute phase, the Wind-Heat pattern is more common, while in chronic cases, symptoms involving Dampness become more prominent.

4. Regulating Qi and Blood and Suppressing Inflammation Through Acupoint Selection

For acupuncture treatment, acupoints (經穴, *gyeonghyeol*) such as Zusanli (足三里, ST36), Quchi (曲池, LI11), and Yanglingquan (陽陵泉, GB34) are stimulated to strengthen the Spleen's function. Hegu (合谷, LI4) and Waiguan (外關, SJ5) are excellent for relieving itching (止痒, *jiyang*) and also have the effect of regulating the Qi mechanism (氣機, *gigi*) of the Liver Meridian (肝經, *gan gyeong*) to manage Liver Fire (肝火, *ganhwa*).

5. The Need for Lifestyle Changes to Avoid Allergy Triggers

Hives are a chronic condition with frequent recurrences. Fundamental constitutional improvement is only possible when careful lifestyle management accompanies medication.

6. A Journey with Hives Towards Healthy Skin

"By improving my constitution with traditional herbal medicine and adopting lifestyle habits that avoid triggers, my hives gradually subsided. As my mind found peace, the itching also significantly improved. Now, instead of fighting hives, I've learned to live with them."

Hives are not merely a small manifestation on the skin; they are a sign revealing an overall imbalance in our body. Simply suppressing the itching and concealing the redness (erythema) is not the ultimate solution.