Author(s): Krishna Kant Pandey, Arun Kumar Tripathi and Alok Kumar Srivastava

Abstract: Acne vulgaris, one of the most commonly seen disease in adolescence, is a chronic inflammatory disease of pilosebaceous units, characterized by the development of comedones in forms of papules, pustules and less commonly nodules. Mukhadusika, explained in ayurvedic textspossess symptomatic correlation with Acne vulgaris. Although vata, kapha and rakta are mentioned as dosha-duṣya involved in the pathogenesis of the disease, pittaja symptoms are also found in the disease like daha and paka. As the disease is having a chronic nature, modern medicine’s long term use results in frequent side effects, antibiotic resistance as well as high financial burden. Still, none of them permanently cures the disease and only effective until they are used with a very high relapse rate. Therefore, to identify an alternative, safer and permanent cure, jalaukavacaranaand siddarthakadilepa were selected for the present study to see their effect on mukhadusikaw.s.r. Acne Vulgaris. 15 patients selected from the Panchkarma and Kaya-Chikitsa O.P.D. of the Rishikul Campus, UAU, Dehradun were treated with jalaukavacarana (4 sittings on a 7-day interval). Along with siddarthakadilepa was also applied daily in between 4 sittings of jalaukavacarana. Apart from treatment duration of 28 days, a follow-up was also done after 30 days. Assessment was done on the basis of subjective parameters i.e. piḍika (Acne lesions) grading and associated complaint grading, as well as objective parameters i.e. count of lesions. Intervention was found to be significantly effective (p<0.05) in reducing piḍika grading as well as associated symptoms i.e. vedana (Pain), daha (Burning), paka (Inflammation), kandu (Itching), vaivarnyata (Discolouration) and snigdhata (Oiliness. Intervention also showed significant result in reducing count of lesions too. However, no significant effect was seen on the no. of scar/Grading of scars. After follow-up period, only 13.33% in showed relapse in grading of acne.