Treating Facial Acne In Adolescents And Young Adults With Auriculoacupuncture And Auriculotherapy: A Pilot Study

Background Potential advantages of using auriculoacupuncture or auriculotherapy to treat facial acne vulgaris include reduced cost of therapy, lack of significant adverse effects, and better patient adherence and acceptance. Objective To examine the efficacy of using auriculoacupuncture and auriculotherapy for 20 weeks to treat acne in teenagers and young adults. Design, Setting, and Patients Male and female volunteers (aged 13-25 years) with grade I or II mild to moderate nonscarring facial acne were randomized to 1 of 4 groups: treatment needle (TN), control needle (CN), treatment electrical (TE), or control electrical (CE). Bilateral auricular points used for the 2 treatment groups (TN and TE) were Face Point, Skin Disorder Point F, Genital Control Point, Lung 1, Lung 2, Point Zero, Shen Men, Allergy Point, and Endocrine Point. Nine sham points on the fleshy portion of the auricular ridge were used for CN and CE groups. Main Outcome Measure Papule count change from baseline. Results On average, baseline papule counts of males (range, 32-50) were larger than those of females (range,12-18). The mean changes in papules for males were relatively greater. For females, the CN group had the highest mean baseline count and showed worsening over time as evidenced by an increase in the mean count over time, and mean change values generally below zero, i.e., counts were more than baseline. The other 3 groups continuously improved as shown by the downward trend in the mean papule counts, with the TN group showing the most improvement followed by the CE group. For males, all treatment groups showed improvement over time. The CE and TN groups had the highest baseline counts, but the CE group showed more improvement than did the TN. The CN group had the lowest mean count at the end of the study, but it also had the lowest baseline count. The TE group had a baseline count slightly lower than that of CE and TN, but finished with the most improvement. Conclusions Both auriculoacupuncture and auriculotherapy appear to provide some promising therapeutic results in the treatment of adolescent mild to moderate acne vulgaris. Differences observed in therapeutic effect of the electrical stimulation vs needle stimulation may result from differences in the amount of energy delivered. Further study of this alternate treatment for acne is warranted.