Woman needed surgery for burns caused by moxibustion

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A woman's leg was so seriously burned after a Chinese medical treatment that she needed a skin graft.

Auckland woman Selena Xue went to KZY Real Massage Treatment and Relaxation in Newmarket for moxibustion treatment on June 6 but a week later ended up in hospital waiting for the first of two surgeries to repair the damage she says the therapy caused.

But the owner of the clinic was not convinced his treatment was to blame.

Moxibustion is a traditional Chinese medicine therapy that involves burning dried mugwort (moxa) on particular points on the body. The treatment aims to stimulate and induce a smoother flow of blood and qi.

"It's intended for detox so it increases the blood circulation and gets rid of the toxins from the body," Xue said. "The traditional Chinese theory is that there is some dampness in the body, which is very bad but doing this therapy can get rid of that."

For some types of moxibustion, a cigar-shaped stick of moxa is lit and pressed directly on to the skin until it blisters. In Xue's case the burning moxa was placed inside a round stainless steel container and put on her legs for 30-40 minutes, she said.

"At the time I didn't feel it was very painful, it was very hot. When I got home it was quite red and then the next day I got a very big blister."

Selena Xue required a skin graft on her leg after she was seriously burnt during a moxibustion treatment. Photo/Supplied

Xue said during the treatment the owner of the clinic, Vincent Wong, had told her some people did blister after receiving it so she didn't think anything of it.

By June 13 the blister on her lower left leg had popped and started to become infected so Xue went to her doctor. The doctor told her it was a very serious burn.

He consulted Middlemore doctors who said it was a full-thickness burn and she was sent straight to hospital.

"The doctor was quite surprised how deep it had burned," Xue said.

She had one surgery to remove the damaged tissue from the wound and a second to take skin from her thigh and graft it to the site of the burn on her lower leg.

After 10 days in hospital, she was sent home but still faced a week or two of recovery before she could return to work.

Selena Xue spent 10 days in hospital repairing the damage with skin grafts. Photo/Supplied

Xue's doctor has lodged complaints with the Health and Disability Commissioner and the Ministry of Health on her behalf.

The ministry confirmed it was looking into the complaint.

But Wong said he was not 100 per cent convinced his treatment caused the burn. He said he sold Xue an incense stick at the end of the therapy and questioned whether she had performed the treatment on herself and caused the burn.

Xue denied this, saying she had performed the treatment on her stomach but not on her legs.

Wong said he believed if the burn was that bad she would have told him she was in pain during the treatment.

He said the first he heard of the problem was when Xue's doctor called him on June 13. Xue also called the next day but Wong questioned why she waited so long and did not let him know about the problem earlier.

ACC figures showed there had been four claims for moxibustion injuries in both 2014 and 2016.

Xue said the treatment raised issues around whether there should be regulations on who could perform Chinese medicine and what qualifications they needed.

In New Zealand there are no regulations around traditional Chinese medicine.

Xue said she believed the industry should be regulated to help prevent further injuries during treatment.

In 2011, the Ministry of Health consulted on the proposal to regulate the profession and since then there had been a number of meetings with the profession to identify suitable governance options.

The ministry's chief advisor Dr David St George warned individuals to take care with any unregulated health service and do their own checks before being involved in or accepting any treatment.