An Overview of The Treatment of pruritus in Thai Traditional Medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine

Abstract

The most prevalent symptom of skin problem is pruritus. It could be caused by skin pathology or other disorders. In western medicine, tropical treatments are typically used for dermatological conditions or medical conditions associated with underlying disorders. Traditional medicine is utilized as an alternative or comple- mentary therapy, including Thai traditional medicine (TTM) and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). This article provides an overview of the most prevalent pruritus in TTM and TCM. The four elements of earth, water, wind, and fire were used to evaluate TTM theoretically. TCM considers the five elements of wood, fire, earth, metal, and water in its conceptual analysis. TTM and TCM both investigated abnormalities in body elements and created treatment plans. The herbal treatment is personalized to the body elements of each patient. This comparative perspective could broaden traditional medicine's knowledge. This could be applied to clinical practice or re- search in the future, allowing patients to be referred to each other or to a western medicine specialist.