A Philological Study on the Pathology, Acupuncture and Moxibustion of Alopecia

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to analyze literature on oriental medicine to investigate the pathology, acupuncture, and moxibustion therapy applicable to alopecia Methods: We searched for the causes of alopecia in the bibliographic data from 41 sources of literature and the acupunctural treatments for alopecia in the bibliographic data from 49 sources of Chinese and Korean literature and from the journals of the acupunctural treatments for alopecia which have been published since 2000. Results: The main causes of alopecia are blood deficiency, blood heat, static blood, depletion of kidney’s water, wind excess, seven emotional damage, dietary damage, etc. The acupuncture points frequently used are GV20, GB20, ST36, SP6, SP10, BL17, BL18, BL23, GV23, GV14, CV6, ST8, KI3, LR3, HT7, LI11, EX-HN1, and ouch point. New acupuncture therapies, including herbal acupuncture therapy, ear acupuncture therapy, dermal needle therapy, needle-embedding therapy and scalp acupuncture therapy are frequently used to treat alopecia. Conclusions: The acupuncture points frequently used for treating alopecia have characteristics such as tonifying blood, tonifying the liver and kidney, extinguishing wind, activating blood, clearing heat and draining dampness, so they are highly associated with the causes and the mechanisms of alopecia. Key Words: Alopecia; Pathology; Acupuncture; Moxibustion; Acupoint.