I'm a 26 year old asian american male. I gotten bad acne since last year and nothing seems to help much. Recently my mother told me to go with her to those chinese medicine places in nyc as they have herbs for you to take that helps with acne. I had spoken to that guy and saw him and he gave he some pills to take, its 3 different pills and its 2 times a day.
Also given herbs to take and my has to boil it as thus its like soup in a way... its very very hard to drink. The taste is awful. I was told i do this for 1 week and if my face gets worst or doesn't get better, then don't come back as there is no solution. However, if it gets better, go back and see him to get more of these herbs/pill.s
I took this for 1 day but something just came into my mind. I had asked him if there was a name of these pills as in the english name and he said there was none. So then now im thinking... could this be like an accutane in a way? The reason this worries me is b/c accutane i know has very bad side effects. However, this chinese medicine person didn't mention any of this and just said take these pills.
I'm not concerned with the herbs as thats drinking it but the pills does scare me. Should i stop taking these pills? I just know its pills thats from china and it has no name but i'm kinda worried if it has some sick side effects.
Also does anyone here think its kinda bad that he says u should see some type of results in a week? I can't imagine anything taking 1 week and seeing results. Obviously this isn't a scam etc and this chinese medicine specialist seems to be a geninune guy... but i really can't fathom this working in a week.
Has anyone here went to a Chinese Medicine Herb Specialist for something like this? Again, i dont mind drinking the herbs soup but the pills im kinda worried. My mother said you shoudln't worry about it b/c its like antibiotics etc.
To me, that sounds pretty scary.
I doubt it's accutane, antibiotics sound likely. Easier to get, should have a fairly quick effect.
For the herbs? I know there are quite a few teas that have hormonal effects that fight acne. Generally they're not for males though (they act against male hormones). Stuff like spearmint tea, etc. Again, not a good idea to take those if you're a male.
I'm not going to tell you you're mom is wrong, or you should never consider alternative medicine, but I think it's important that you at least have some idea of what you're taking.
I've been using traditional chinese medicine for awhile now and have been incorporating it into my skin regimen.
Safety of these medications totally vary, but I can assure you that the practitioners know what they're doing. As you see, in Traditional Chinese medicine, it's almost a totally different science going on. Yin and Yang, Hot and Cold, The 4 elements, the list goes on! Acne is usually known as a "hot" disease in which there is a buildup of heat from within your body, (9 times out of 10 the herbalist will tell you this). This buildup of heat must be cooled down, usually the herbalist might recommend you something to cool you off and keep you in balance with your energies. I was recommended this tea powder once and I kid you not, this stuff tasted like warm iced tea, delicious. Another thing the herbalist might recommend you is probably something along the line of detoxing, most likely blood related. I was given these capsules called Shi Du Qing capsules once and they helped me within.. about 4 days? So I can say that these were pretty effective for me. For you, I can't be totally sure.
To my knowledge, The Chinese herbalists I've known have told me that they wouldn't even try to make an herbal counterpart for accutane, it just wouldn't work.
For the soups and teas, there really isn't much to worry. For the pills, honestly, most of them are like the teas and soups technically in pill or capsule format. I think the media as well as pop culture has made foreign medicines look shady and untrustworthy. I can tell you this, if something just doesn't feel right after taking the medicine. Stop taking it, simple as that. There really isn't anything crazy in those pills for all i know, most of the time they contain just extracts of roots and all types of plants.
Alright, well, with my opinion on these Chinese medicinal products for acne, I find these an absolute godsend for me. I used these pills called Margarite pills (There is a Chinese name for it, but I have no clue what it is) and I literally cleared my skin in 2 weeks. Will it work for you? I'm not sure, but it worked for me. But this just my experience with these pills.
I'll tell you, there really isn't much to worry about. The difference between western and eastern medicine can be small and large in different areas. And to my knowledge, skin concerns such as acne has been treated for hundreds, if not thousands of years through eastern medicine (Traditional Chinese medicine especially).