Berberis aquifolium

A perennial evergreen shrub native to the Pacific Northwest of North America. It contains the alkaloids berberine, berbamine, and oxyacanthine. In herbal medicine it is valued for its tonic and alterative properties, especially in chronic skin and liver disorders. In crude form, it acts as a mild stimulant to digestion, promotes bile secretion, and improves skin nutrition. In homoeopathy, the tincture is prepared from the fresh root and bark of the root [Clarke].

Widely used in herbal medicine as a liver tonic and skin depurative; in Native American medicine for chronic skin eruptions; also employed as a digestive bitter and for mild antimicrobial effect.

Not extensively proved in the Hahnemannian sense; effects are derived largely from clinical experience, empirical herbal tradition, and confirmed homoeopathic use recorded in Clarke and Boericke.

• Skin: Chronic eruptions, psoriasis, eczema, acne with roughness, scaling, and itching [Clarke].
• Liver: Stimulates sluggish liver, improves bile secretion.
• Digestive Tract: Dyspepsia from hepatic torpor.
• Mucous Membranes: Especially of alimentary tract and skin.
• Nutrition: Improves assimilation and general nutrition in debilitated states.

• Open air (relieves mental and cutaneous symptoms).
• Gentle motion (improves liver sluggishness).
• Warmth (relieves chilliness from hepatic congestion).

• Rich, fatty food (aggravates dyspepsia).
• Alcohol (flares skin conditions).
• Cold damp weather (worsens psoriasis and eczema).

• Arsenicum album – Much more burning and restlessness; Berberis aquifolium lacks intense mental anxiety.
• Sulphur – Marked itching, burning, aggravation from heat; Berb-aq. more bland itching with hepatic sluggishness.
• Graphites – Thick, oozing eruptions; Berb-aq. dry, scaling, with less discharge.
• Berberis vulgaris – Primarily urinary and kidney; Berb-aq. is chiefly skin and liver.

• Complementary: Sulphur in chronic skin cases; Nux vomica for hepatic torpor.
• Antidotes: Alcohol, rich food as aggravating factors.
• Follows well: After Arsenicum album or Sulphur in chronic psoriasis.

A nutritive skin and liver remedy—chronic eruptions with dry, scaly surface and hepatic sluggishness in debilitated constitutions. It addresses the “soil” in which skin disease grows: poor nutrition, defective elimination, sluggish bile, and low-grade systemic toxicity. Its action is more tonic and supportive than violently eliminative.

• In psoriasis, 5–10 drops tincture in water, 3× daily, often used in herbal-homoeopathic practice alongside internal potencies.
• Valuable in acne in young people with sluggish digestion.
• Consider in eczema of elderly with sallow skin and low vitality.

Mind:

• Sadness with chronic disease.
• Irritability from itching.

Head:

• Heaviness in morning.
• Dull headache after rich food.

Face:

• Acne, in dyspeptic patients.
• Eruptions, dry and scaly.

Skin:

• Psoriasis.
• Eczema, chronic, dry.
• Scaling eruptions.
• Hyperkeratosis.
• Dryness of skin.

Generalities:

• Debility from hepatic torpor.
• Aggravation from alcohol.
• Improvement in open air.

Clarke J.H. – A Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica: Key indications in psoriasis and hepatic disorders.

Boericke W. – Pocket Manual of Homœopathic Materia Medica: Summary of clinical uses.

Hughes R. – Manual of Pharmacodynamics: Discussion of berberine’s physiological action.

Tyler M.L. – Homœopathic Drug Pictures: General portrait as a skin remedy.

Hale E.M. – New Remedies: Early clinical reports of success in skin disease.

W.A. Dewey – Practical Homœopathic Therapeutics: Skin and liver grouping.

Grieve M. – Modern Herbal: Botanical and herbal background.

Allen T.F. – Encyclopedia of Pure Materia Medica: References to berberine-containing remedies.

Hering C. – Guiding Symptoms: Skin and hepatic notes.

Nash E.B. – Leaders in Homœopathic Therapeutics: Clinical emphasis on psoriasis.