Objective： To observe the clinical efficacy of cutaneous acupuncture in treating erysipelas with hard swollen skin. Methods： A total of 150 erysipelas patients with hard swollen skin were allocated into two groups, an acupuncture group and a control group. The 110 cases in the acupuncture group were treated with skin needle tapping plus external application of Jin Huang San. The 40 cases in the control group were treated with external application of Jin Huang San alone. Comparison was then made between the two groups in the effective rate. Results： The total effective rate for the acupuncture group was 97.3% and the control group 75.0%. The difference in total effective rate was statistically significant between the two groups （P 〈 0.01）. Conclusion： In the treatment of hard swollen skin erysipelas, skin needle tapping combined with external application of Jin Huang San is superior to external application of Jin Huang San alone.
