Hi David, I was wondering if you've seen herbal medicine effectively treat lichen sclerosis. I have a former patient who was diagnosed with this and reached out to me. I can approach it acuupncture-ly, but herbal I'm not sure. She is menopausal. It is itchy, 'crawly', and slightly discolored. The conventional recommendation is topical steroids which she wants to avoid. I was thinking topically herbal oils with chickweed or calendula, vitamin E or castor oil. I also read about fennel (in a cream, topically) and sea buckthorn oil (orally) for 'vaginal atrophy' but unsure if that would be applicable here. Orally, I was thinking what might help are immune amphoterics b/c of the autoimmune aspect (ashaganadha?) and something to help nourish yin (maybe? b/c menopausal and it can be linked)... but not sure at all what specific herbs would be helpful. She's already doing anti-inflammatory diet. I wondered about turmeric also as anti-inflammatory. I was wondering if you have any experience with this or any ideas? Thank you!

Yes I have treated multiple people (mostly women) with Lichen Sclerosis. There is no protocol for this condition, each person was treated differently. Yes I have tried using immune amphoterics, immunoregulatory herbs, “skin herbs”, yin tonics, etc. Since LS is idiopathic (it may or may not be an autoimmune disease) treatment is very specific to the person and their constitution and energetics. Topical treatments can be useful as adjunctive therapy but do not really deal with the underlying issues. If it is Vulval LS creams with Vitamin E, Calendula, Hypericum oil, Gotu Kola (I also often use this internally as well), can relieve pain and inflammation.