Deleterious effects of traditional Chinese medicine preparations on the course of psoriasis--a case report.

Psoriasis is a chronic, systemic and difficult to treat condition which negatively affects the patient's quality of life. Frustrated and unsatisfied with the conventional therapies, psoriatic patients start looking for alternative treatment which they believe to be safe and effective. Very common traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) appears to offer various topical and systemic herbal preparations, as well as massages, acupuncture, diet and lifestyle alternations. The presented study concerns a 48-year-old female patient with exacerbated psoriatic skin lesions (tending to become erythrodermic), and certain systemic complications that appeared after taking a TCM herbal medication, Fu Fang Quing Dai Wan, as well as the use of a Chinese herbal bath gel and staying on a diet rich in meat. After in vitro examinations were made of the herbal preparation and its biological properties determined, it was concluded that the TCM herbal preparation should not be considered harmless. Therefore, patients should be made aware of its adverse reactions.