Moxibustion therapy for allergic rhinitis

Seventeen patients with allergic rhinitis who were treated unsuccessfully by routine procedures in an allergy clinic voluntarily accepted a trial of moxibustion therapy directed locally to the nasal nostrils as the sole curative treatment. Patients with known mite allergen allergic rhinitis were challenged to the allergen and then subjected to the moxa treatment. The temperature inside the nostrils during moxa therapy increased 3°C above the pretreatment temperature level. At the peak of the mite allergen induced rhinitis reaction, symptoms were markedly improved in 88% of the patients and reduced levels of leukotriene levels in the nasal fluids were recorded in 80%.