Bloodletting with medicinal leeches
Hirudotherapy is a multi-millennia old medical practice – used again in modern medicine. It has anticoagulant (hirudin), anti-inflammatory, anaesthetic, pain-relieving and healing effects.
This therapy allows the evacuation of blood in case of local plethora and also offers the benefits of leech saliva. The effect of bloodletting is depurative, decongestant, antiphlogistic and relaxing. It increases the lymphatic flow by vasodilation and stimulates the production of blood cells. The irritating and revulsive effects allow to relieve chronic or acute inflammations and to reverse the process of tissue degeneration.
Indications
Hirudotherapy is used to treat pain in the locomotor system (osteoarthritis, tendonitis, polyarthritis, gout, lumbago, herniated discs, spondyloarthritis), diseases of the veins (varicose veins, superficial thrombophlebitis, leg ulcers), diseases of the arteries (hypertension, angina pectoris, diabetic vascular disorder, cerebral circulatory disorder), head diseases (headaches, migraine, retinopathy, tinnitus, otitis, hearing loss), skin diseases (boils, abscesses, infected toes, eczema, psoriasis, shingles, painful scars), gynaecological disorders (menstrual pain, pre- and post-menopausal syndrome), traumas (heamatome, sprain), etc.
Contraindications
| haemophilia | anaemia | tendency to keloid scars |
| anticoagulation | immune deficiency | severe progressive diseases |
| active gastrointestinal ulcer | dialysis |
Note : Treatment against platelet aggregation (e.g. aspirin) is not a contraindication, but it must be interrupted at least 24 hours, at most 72 hours before treatment and only resumed one day after the bleeding has stopped.
Side effects
Frequently and during the days following the treatment, swelling and redness of the treated area is common. In 80% of cases, itching of the bite area occurs. It is important not to scratch as this delays healing and you risk infecting the wounds. Swelling of the lymph nodes in the treated area is also possible and disappears within a week without consequences. Rarely anaphylactic shock occurs.
Delayed healing is sometimes possible, especially in predisposed patients (diabetes). Small whitish star-shaped scars may also remain, or a keloid scar may appear in predisposed individuals.