Pigmented Purpuric Dermatosis in Adults Treated with Herbal Medicine: Report of Five Cases.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this report is to demonstrate the clinical effect of Korean medicine treatment for pigmented purpuric dermatosis (PPD). METHODS: Five cases of PPD with skin purpura and blood heat due to blood deficiency were evaluated. All patients had been in a chronic disease state for at least 1 year. The treatment consisted only of the Korean herbal medicine Gami-Samultang (GS). The degree of symptoms that the patients experienced when they first visited our clinic was set at a visual analog scale (VAS) score of 10. RESULTS: After treatment, body purpura disappeared in all cases. In contrast, the patients' symptoms had not resolved following previous steroid treatment. All patients were satisfied with the treatment results and showed a VAS score of 0 for purpura. CONCLUSION: This report suggests that GS can be used to effectively treat PPD. Additional clinical studies on PPD are needed to develop more comprehensive treatment guidelines.