blood suckers

One of the things I thought I would explore while I was over here is Eastern medicine. I usually do not partake much in Western medicine either though - you would understand if you had my brother for a doctor, who believes that one should ride out most of the illnesses to build out the immune system. Of course, after I heard the horror story from a friend whose uncle had a bad experience with an acupuncturist in China that resulted in a year in the hospital, I have hesitated on exploring this part of my adventure.

However, I ended up tripping on a form of Eastern medicine by way of what I thought was going to be a basic facial. Since late summer, I have had wicked breakouts around my chin/mouth area. Usually, breakouts in this area are hormonal in nature so initially, I was not alarmed. But after constant breakouts of the large swelling variety, and after using all sorts of products and numerous Dermologica facials without any positive progress, I was starting to get frustrated. Was it age? Was it the air and pollution? Was it the food I was eating and after a few months, my body started to react?

A friend ended up taking me to a local person that she periodically goes to for facials. She noted that the individual has been good with extractions - well, technically so was the Dermologica specialist. It was a bit disconcerting when my friend texted me to let me know that she was going to try out the person again after a pronounced absence to make sure that it would surpass what she thought would be alright to bring a foreigner (e.g., cleanliness). At this point, I was desperate and wanted a cleaner face when I headed back to the States for the holidays so with my 'I'll try anything once' attitude, I was game.

The needle used to induce blood can be seen on the left.

I have gotten used to ignoring the ambiance and no longer equate it to the quality of the services. But with eyes closed, pins pricking and something sucking on my face, I no longer had any idea what was going on. By the time I left, I swore that I was not coming back. To my surprise, within a week, my face cleared up a bit. I ended up making another trip to the cosmetologist before the holidays. It occurred to me that the pins pricking were not to assist in the extractions but to induce bleeding. The sucking action came from heated bamboo sticks that pulls out the contaminated blood, similar to the use of medicinal leeches. It was a form of hirudotherapy.

After having a relatively clean face for about a month, I am now a believer...at least in enduring some pain to suck out the poison from one's blood to cleanse the system. I am sure that I will have to do a bit more research in regards to finding the right acupuncturist though. Of course, I said the same thing with Lasix and ended up doing something similar to the above experience. God has been kind looking out for me.