Moxibustion burns: wound characteristics and clinical manifestation

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.