Application of Blood Dryness Syndrome Theories in Dermatological Science

Blood dryness refers to the pathological condition of malnutrition in the fluid and blood in the body. Blood dryness syndrome, independent from syndromes like blood heat, blood deficiency and blood stasis, belongs to Qi Xue Jin Ye syndrome differentiation innew blood syndrome theory. The function disorders and material changes in fluid and blood can all result in the dryness of blood. The etiology of blood dryness are mainly due toevil,deficiencyandstasis. Theevil refers towind,hotandpoison. And thedeficiencyincludes Yin deficiency and blood deficiency. There are specific treatment principles and formulas for the syndrome of blood dryness. Blood dryness syndrome diagnosis is manifested as dry skin and mucosa, lustreless hair and brittle nail, as well as a failure to moisten the Zang Fu organs, involving abnormal laboratory test results in skin barrier function and the physical and chemical characteristics of blood. This syndrome is common in various skin diseases, such as psoriasis, sjogren syndrome, atopic dermatitis, ichthyosis and photosensitive dermatitis. Experimental study on blood dryness syndrome shows that it is accompanied by abnormal skin barrier function, disorders of blood rheology and physical and chemical characteristics, humoral metabolic disorders and immune dysfunction. According to the study of Chinese medicines, a number of herbs with moistening function can promote to produce skin ceramides, such as radix rehmanniae, Chinese yam, motherwort, platycodon grandiflorum, radix polygoni multiflori, bletilla striata, and licorice root, et al. Patients with blood dryness syndrome receive significant improvement after the topical or oral administration of herbs with harmonizing blood and nourishing dryness, which indicates the etiology and pathogenesis of blood dryness syndrome is related to humoral metabolic disorders and immune dysfunction, and the clinical syndromes of dryness can be improved by regulating blood and moistening dryness.