A 66 year old male patient came to the clinic to seek alternative treatment for his skin problem called bullious pemphigoid.

He found a couple of little blisters on his leg when he was on holiday in Spain two years ago. He thought they were from mosquito or bug bites and didn’t pay much attention to them. However, the blisters began to spread all over his body, sometimes in his mouth, but excluding his face and groin region. Blisters can be a large, itchy and appear as red patches, just beneath the surface of the skin. They can be up to 5cm in diameter and full of fluid, with the thick skin of the blisters stretched tightly. The fluid inside is usually clear, the patient used a needle to prick the blister to allow the fluid to drain out. Once drained, it then healed itself.

He went to his doctor and was given steroid cream as he was suffering diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, had a typical X syndrome, and was largely overweight. He also suffered from gout. He had a chest infection once a year  for the last few years which he always ended up with 4-5 courses of antibiotics.

His medication include:

Allopurinol 300 mg daily for gout

Asprin 75 mg daily

Bisoprolol 10g once daily

Bumetanide 1 mg, twice daily for water retention

Clobetasol 0.05% ointment apply thinly once a day

Dabigatran etexilate 150 mg twice daily warfarin substitute

Digoxin 125 microgram one a day

Doxazosin 1 mg one at night for BP

Metformin 500 mg 1 in the morning and two at tea time

Ramipril 10mg taken at night for heart

Zopiclone 7.5 mg when needed. For sleep

He had tough purple colour on the sides, slightly swollen, yellow and peeled coating and very dry.  His pulse were irregular, slippery and wiry in general.

He had two stents due to irregular heart beat and heart failure. I used Chinese herbal medicine treated a two year bullious pemphigoid. Below is the skin before treatment and 5 weeks after treatment.