Moxibustion burns: wound characteristics and clinical manifestation
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Moxibustion burns: wound characteristics and clinical manifestation Hong Sil Joo 1
&
Seung Je Lee 1 & Kun Yong Sung 2
Received: 26 May 2020 / Accepted: 27 July 2020 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Background Moxa treatment (moxibustion) is a herbal treatment and based on the theories of traditional Chinese medicine, which has been practiced for over 2500 years. In East Asia, moxibustion has been performed on a variety of diseases and conditions for therapeutic purposes. Traditional moxibustion works by using the heat generated from burning herbal materials. During the process, burning herbs come in contact with the skin directly or indirectly. Because the skin is heated during moxibustion, we supposed that there would be a risk of burn injuries. To date, there have been no reports about burn injuries from moxibustion. We report the wound characteristics of burns by moxibustion. Methods We retrospectively reviewed the charts of 35 inpatients and outpatients who had been treated for burns after moxibustion from January 2017 to December 2019. The data reviewed were gender, age, reason for using moxibustion, burned lesion and size, type of treatment for burn, underlying disease/condition, period between the day of the burn injury and the day treatment began, and the location of the burn injury on the patients’ body. Results The mean age of the patients was 64.46 years, 71% were women, and the most common reason for moxibustion was joint pain. The most common region of the burn injury was the lower extremities (50%), and the mean wound size was 7.81 cm2. The lengths and widths of the wounds were similar in many cases. The average period from burn onset to the start of treatment was 22.6 days, and the type of treatment was mainly local flap (65.7%). Conclusions Despite moxibustion burns often being severe, such a side effect has not been investigated. We recommend that patients be informed about the risk of burns when being treated with moxibustion. This potentially severe side effect should be further researched. Level of evidence: Level IV, Risk/Prognostic study. Keywords Burn . Moxa . Moxibustion
Introduction Moxibustion (in Korean: tteum) is a traditional herbal medicine therapy that has been used for more than * Hong Sil Joo [email protected] 1
Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Hanil General Hospital, 308, Uicheon-ro, Dobong-gu, Seoul, South Korea
2
Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Kangwon National University Hospital, Kangwon National University College of Medicine, Chuncheon, South Korea
2500 years in East Asia. Moxa is made with dried Artemisia vulgaris and, moxibustion is the placing of burning moxa on patient’s skin directly or indirectly (Fig. 1). Based on traditional Chinese medicine, the effectiveness of moxibustion is the stimulation of acupoints and the meridian system with the intention of promoting nourishing warmth. In oriental medicine, it is believed that warmth is nourishing and has the effects of activati
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