Therapeutic observation on acupuncture plus auricular point sticking for melasma

Objective: To observe the clinical efficacy and safety of acupuncture plus auricular point sticking in treating melasma. Methods: Forty-three eligible subjects with melasma were intervened by acupuncture plus auricular point sticking, 10 times as a treatment course, with an interval of 3-5 d between each two courses. The therapeutic efficacy was analyzed after 1, 2 and 3 treatment courses respectively. Results: With the increase of treatment course, the markedly effective rate and total effective rate were also increasing. Of the 43 subjects after 3 treatment courses, the epidermal type had the highest markedly effective rate and total effective rate, then it's the subtype IV of the mixed type and dermal type, and the subtype III of the mixed type had the lowest markedly effective rate and total effective rate. Conclusion: Acupuncture plus auricular point sticking is effective and safe in treating melasma, but different types have different therapeutic efficacies. © 2013 Shanghai Research Institute of Acupuncture and Meridian and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.