Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies
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Focus Alternat Complement Ther©2005 Pharmaceutical Press
Focus Altern Complement Ther 2005; 10: 40–1
Antihistamine and anti-allergic drugs are generally prescribed to control itching, but their effectiveness can occasionally be questioned. Traditional herbal medicine has proven effective in several skin diseases with severe itching. Sho-Seiryu-To (Xiao-Qing-Long-Tang in Chinese), consists of eight component traditional herbs and can treat the common cold, bronchial asthma and allergic rhinitis. However, its effectiveness against skin itching has not been reported. In addition, Sho-Seiryu-To has been reported to exhibit inhibitory effects upon eosinophil viability and degranulation. Thus, we administrated Sho-Seiryu-To to elderly patients with skin itching and peripheral eosinophilia despite using antihistamine drugs.
We administrated Sho-Seiryu-To (Kotaro Sho-seiryu-to N19: 7.5 g/day) to three elderly patients with skin itching and peripheral eosinophilia despite using antihista-mine drugs. We assessed the effects of Sho-Seiryu-To on skin symptoms and the peripheral eosinophil level.
In our cases, when the peripheral eosinophil levels were greatest, the skin symptoms were severest. Sho-Seiryu-To improved the skin symptoms along with a decrease of peripheral eosinophilia in these cases. Except for one case of dry mouth, there were few side-effects.
Sho-Seiryu-To was considered to be effective in treating elderly patients with chronic skin itching and peripheral eosinophilia. Few side-effects were seen.
