Can Acupuncture Help My Skin? Here’s What You Need to Know

When most people think of acupuncture, they think of stress relief, pain management, or maybe even help with sleep. But what about your skin? Can those tiny needles really make a difference when it comes to breakouts, wrinkles, or dullness?

The short answer: Yes, acupuncture can help your skin—and there’s real science to back it up.

Let’s dive into how it works and what you can expect.

How Acupuncture Affects the Skin

Acupuncture is based on the idea of balancing the body's internal systems by stimulating specific points on the body (also known as meridians). When it comes to skin health, this can mean several things:

• Increasing blood circulation to bring fresh nutrients and oxygen to the skin

• Balancing hormones that can contribute to acne, rosacea, and other skin issues

• Reducing inflammation (a major player in skin conditions like eczema and psoriasis)

• Boosting collagen production, which can help with elasticity, fine lines, and overall glow

When tiny needles are inserted into specific points, it triggers the body's natural healing response. This includes stimulating fibroblasts—the cells responsible for creating collagen and elastin, the two proteins that keep your skin firm and youthful.

In fact, a study published in The Journal of Acupuncture and Meridian Studies (2013) found that acupuncture treatment improved skin hydration and elasticity, especially in aging skin. Another review from Dermatologic Therapy (2014) suggests that acupuncture can be a useful complementary therapy for treating skin conditions like acne, eczema, and even melasma.

What Skin Issues Can Acupuncture Help With?

You might be surprised by how many different skin concerns acupuncture can support, including:

• Acne and breakouts: By balancing hormone levels, reducing inflammation, and improving lymphatic drainage, acupuncture can help reduce the frequency and severity of breakouts.

• Rosacea and redness: Acupuncture helps calm an overactive immune system and supports better circulation, which can tone down redness.

• Aging skin: Facial acupuncture (sometimes called cosmetic acupuncture) promotes collagen production, softens fine lines, and can improve overall tone and texture.

• Hyperpigmentation: Some studies suggest acupuncture may help regulate melanin production, potentially lightening dark spots over time.

• Eczema and psoriasis: By calming systemic inflammation and boosting the immune response, acupuncture may help reduce flare-ups and improve comfort.

What a Typical Treatment Looks Like

If you’re coming in for skin concerns, your acupuncturist will likely take a whole-body approach. Skin issues are often a reflection of what’s happening internally—think hormonal imbalances, digestive problems, or chronic stress.

During your session, your acupuncturist may insert fine needles not only on the face but also on points across the body that correspond to digestion, hormonal balance, or stress relief. For example, points along the stomach or spleen meridians are often used for acne treatments, while kidney points may be stimulated for anti-aging concerns.

You might also receive facial acupuncture specifically, which uses even finer needles targeted at the muscles and skin of the face to boost circulation and collagen.

And no, it doesn’t hurt! Most people find it relaxing—some even fall asleep during their sessions.

How Long Until You See Results?

Consistency is key. While some people notice a glow or slight lift after just one session, most skin concerns require a series of treatments to see noticeable changes. Typically, a course of 8–10 sessions is recommended, followed by maintenance treatments once a month.

Your acupuncturist may also recommend dietary changes, herbs, or skincare tips to complement your sessions and speed up your results.

So…

If you’ve been struggling with your skin and feel like you’ve tried everything, acupuncture could be the missing piece. Not only does it address the surface symptoms, but it also gets to the root cause of your skin issues—leading to lasting, real results.

Curious to see if acupuncture could help you glow from the inside out? Book a consultation with us today! Your skin (and your whole body) will thank you.

Skin Problems? Go Under the Surface

It may only be the very beginnings of fall, but it’s never too early to prepare for the harsh winter months.

For many people, the return of cold temperatures brings about some negatives s to go along with the holidays, hot cocoa and building snowmen—dry skin. Whether its on your face, hands, feet, or really anywhere, dry skin can be one of the most irritating ailments to deal with. And for some, it can affect them year round, and lead to painful cracks and bleeding.

Most people think of dealing with dry skin and other skin conditions with expensive and chemical-laden creams and serums. For some these medications may work, but there is another, more natural way to heal dry and affected skin: acupuncture.

Our skin is actually the biggest organ in our body. If something is wrong with our skin on the outside, that means that something needs fixing on the inside.  So it only makes perfect sense that acupuncture is a proven remedy for a number of skin ailments and general skin dryness.  

Skin conditions are a result of internal imbalances between Qi, blood flow, yin, yang, and blockages of different energy pathways within the body. When those pathways are opened up and the energy of the body is allowed to balance, our skin operates in a much healthier way.

Diana Hermann, a board-certified, Colorado-based acupuncturist explains further why acupuncture is a viable solution for many skin conditions: “Acupuncture clears heat from the lungs and stomach to reduce flushing and heat rising to the face,” Hermann explains, adding that a pooling of heat in the face and head inhibits proper circulation throughout the rest of the body.”

Whether you suffer from general dry skin or other more intense disorders like rosacea, eczema, acne, etc. acupuncture is here to help you look and feel revitalized, and refreshed.  

Woman Shares How Acupuncture Cleared Her Acne

Unless you’ve experienced it first hand,  it’s hard to understand how frustrating, painful, and upsetting acne can be. Whether you struggle with painful cystic acne, hormonal breakouts, unsightly patches of inflammation or anything in between, thankfully acupuncture can help.

Over on Health.com, author Chelsea Taber Burns opened up about how her experience with acupuncture completely cleared her acne, even after having tried the harsh and potentially dangerous drug Accutane, and “every new zit-zapping product that comes across my desk.”

Originally skeptical, she booked an appointment with a certified acupuncturist specializing in cosmetic acupuncture in New York City. Even though she’d describes herself as being terrified of needles, she decided to give it a go.

After her first treatment she describes, “After assessing my face in the mirror at home, it definitely looked fresh, bouncy, and dewy. Elana had told me it can take a few treatments before you start seeing serious skin-clearing results (I have!), but because the pins get your blood flowing, you immediately leave with a youthful flush.”

For Chelsea, facial acupuncture used in conjunction with lasers and products form a sensitive skin line have helped her, “each peak glowy, pimple-free skin potential—the kind of skin I’ve been dreaming about my whole life.”

So exactly how does acupuncture help your skin? A holistic way to help fight skin irritation, infection and inflammation, acupuncture treatment can help ensure your energies are flowing, and thereby nutrients are flowing, too. It can also help to restore any hormonal imbalances that might be responsible for skin impurities.

In contract to topical treatments, acupuncture is a minimally invasive way to try to fight the acne and blemishes from the inside, out. Much like how food is used for medicinal purposes, as well as ingested medications.