Dermatology

The Department of Dermatology of Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine Affiliated to Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine has inherited the academic experience of the two major schools of traditional Chinese dermatologic surgery in Shanghai—the Xia and Gu schools. After decades of practical integration, innovation, and development, it has established a system for the diagnosis and treatment of dermatological diseases based on traditional Chinese medicine and characterized by the integration of Chinese and Western medicine. It has now developed into an outstanding discipline integrating clinical practice, teaching, and scientific research in traditional Chinese medicine and integrated Chinese and Western dermatology.

Currently, the department is an authorized site for master’s and doctoral programs in traditional Chinese dermatology at Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine; a key specialized disease under the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine’s “11th Five-Year Plan,” a key specialty under the “12th Five-Year Plan,” and a key discipline under the “12th Five-Year Plan”; the affiliated institution of the Institute of Dermatology of Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine; the designated institution of the chair-elect of the Professional Committee of Dermatology and Venereology of the Chinese Association of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine; the institution responsible for the chief editorship of the national “13th Five-Year Plan” textbook Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine Dermatology and Venereology; the institution of the chair of the Dermatology Branch of the Shanghai Association of Traditional Chinese Medicine; the institution of the chair of the Cosmetology Branch of the Shanghai Association of Traditional Chinese Medicine; an innovation team of Shanghai higher-education institutions; a traditional Chinese medicine specialty with distinctive characteristics in municipal hospitals under the Shanghai Shen Kang Hospital Development Center; a clinically advantaged specialty of Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine; and a branch inheritance base for the Xia School of Surgery, a school of traditional Chinese medicine in Shanghai’s Haipai tradition.

Currently, the department has 27 medical, technical, and nursing staff members, including 4 chief physicians, 5 deputy chief physicians, 3 attending physicians, 2 resident physicians, 4 technicians, and 9 nurses; its average daily outpatient volume exceeds 500 visits, it has 26 beds, and the annual number of discharged patients exceeds 700.

Over the past 5 years, the department has successively obtained 10 projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and 24 provincial-, ministerial-, and bureau-level projects; it has received 7 provincial- and ministerial-level science and technology progress awards, published more than 150 papers, and published 7 monographs. It has successively received such honors as the Advanced Collective of the Shanghai Health System for 2003–2005, Shanghai’s “Worker Pioneer” title in 2008, and Shanghai’s “May Day Labor Certificate” in 2009.

The department’s long-term and stable research directions include treating psoriasis according to the principle of “treating through the blood,” treating gout by the method of “clearing heat, promoting urination, and unblocking the channels,” treating eczema by the method of “cooling the blood and subduing,” and treating acne through a combination of “medicine–acupuncture–membrane.” It has conducted in-depth clinical and basic research and achieved good clinical efficacy and a series of scientific research results. Over the past 3 years, the specialty’s volume of activity has increased year by year, while its medical, teaching, and research work has developed in a coordinated manner. With its distinctive advantages in traditional Chinese medicine and significant clinical efficacy, the specialty has treated a large number of patients. Based on the theory of treatment according to syndrome differentiation in traditional Chinese medicine, and combining syndrome differentiation with disease differentiation as well as classification- and stage-based treatment, it has achieved relatively good efficacy, and its diagnostic and treatment level is at an advanced national level.