# Exploring the potential of acupuncture as a complementary therapy for post-COVID skin hyperpigmentation: a case report

**Authors:** Yuan Xue, Xingyao Li, Yingying Duan, Qi Gao, Yanhong Zhao, Xili Wu, Zhongheng Wu

PMC · DOI: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1598618 · 2025-07-09

## TL;DR

This case report explores how acupuncture helped a patient with post-COVID skin pigmentation when traditional treatments failed.

## Contribution

The study highlights acupuncture as a potential complementary therapy for undiagnosed post-COVID skin conditions.

## Key findings

- The patient showed significant improvement after receiving acupuncture therapy.
- Conventional treatments failed to resolve the patient's skin pigmentation issues.
- Acupuncture may be beneficial for skin conditions with unclear diagnoses.

## Abstract

Post-COVID sequelae include skin abnormalities with nonspecific characteristics, making disease-specific diagnosis challenging. Conventional treatment primarily relies on modern medical approaches, and the potential of complementary therapies, such as acupuncture, remains underexplored.

This case describes a patient who developed abnormal skin pigmentation following a COVID-19 infection and was initially diagnosed with five different conditions. After a prolonged period of unsuccessful treatment with conventional medicine, the patient received complementary therapy, leading to significant symptom improvement.

Complementary therapies, such as acupuncture, may prove beneficial in treating skin conditions that lack a definitive diagnosis, as demonstrated in this case.

## Full-text entities

- **Diseases:** COVID-19 infection (MESH:D000086382), skin conditions (MESH:D012871), post-COVID skin hyperpigmentation (MESH:D017495), abnormal skin pigmentation (MESH:D012868), Post-COVID sequelae (MESH:D000094024)
- **Species:** Homo sapiens (human, species) [taxon 9606]

## Figures

2 figures with captions in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12283311/full.md

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Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12283311