The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 95

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 95

Jeong Inseong really did come the next day.

Had he gotten an earful from Grandmother Heo Sunnam all night?

For someone on vacation, his face looked quite tired.

“Clinic Director, hello. I’m sorry for visiting so late.”

“Not at all, what’s there to be sorry about? I’m the one who should apologize for making you wait. Come sit here.”

He was a polite friend as always.

Jeong Inseong had come to see me without any particular need for treatment, but since I couldn’t find time during the morning due to seeing patients, I ended up buying him lunch.

“How are things going with your girlfriend?”

“Good. Thanks to you.”

When I brought up Min Juyeon, Jeong Inseong’s face turned slightly red.

His acne hadn’t recurred and he was maintaining clear skin.

I had heard from Lee Jini that he was dating that girl I briefly saw back then, but a long-distance relationship for a whole year at twenty? That was quite remarkable.

“How’s school going?”

“It’s fun.”

When I asked about his studies, I heard another unexpected answer.

He finds it fun?

“Do you still start with the Inner Classic these days? The Yellow Emperor said, Qi Bo said…”

“Chinese characters are fine if you just memorize them whole, but I find anatomy more difficult.”

“Isn’t anatomy more about rote memorization?”

Fortunately, Jeong Inseong didn’t seem to have much resistance to Chinese characters, classical texts, or basic Korean medicine theory.

Even I, who had wanted to go to Korean medicine school for quite a while, felt pretty dizzy when I started learning about emotion-qi-spirit-blood and such.

Well, looking back, those were necessary concepts, but I still can’t understand why we need to know how to read Chinese characters in the 21st century. Isn’t it like learning Latin in medical school?

…Of course, I did make good use of the Chinese characters I learned in college.

“Clinic Director, can I ask you something?”

“Of course! Ask me anything if you don’t know something.”

“Oh, it’s not about school.”

“Yes.”

“By any chance, can you treat hair loss too?”

I was startled by what Jeong Inseong brought up.

Hair loss?

“You already have hair loss? At your age? Oh no! Let me see, is it hereditary?”

“No, no! It’s not about me! It’s about my academy teacher.”

“Ah.”

At least it was fortunate that it wasn’t about Jeong Inseong. Hair loss at the age of turning twenty-one would be too pitiful.

“Unfortunately, there’s no proper method for male pattern baldness. I’ve tried a few times, but the results were… If it hasn’t progressed much yet, I’d recommend getting a Propecia prescription quickly, and if it’s completely bald, I’d just recommend transplantation.”

I had unintentionally seen quite a few hair loss patients, but the treatment success rate was less than 20%.

In the martial arts world, I didn’t stop people who wanted to try medication, but since there’s an alternative like transplantation, I didn’t want to recommend herbal medicine treatment.

Back then, I tried quite a lot.

I thought it would get better if I just matched the pattern identification correctly, so I looked for appropriate prescriptions, and I tried throwing in all the herbs that were supposedly good for hair growth.

Since wealthy merchants came with bags of money wanting to try everything possible, I used all the prescriptions that were said to be good, but it was really… really, really difficult.

There were martial artists who asked why their hair was falling out when they were so healthy, and high-ranking officials who came secretly.

– How can you change what you were born with? What doesn’t work simply doesn’t work. Just introduce them to a wig craftsman and send them away.

Master said that, but I couldn’t turn away from their desperation.

And it’s not like it’s 100% impossible, right? One or two out of ten people do get better.

When occasional success cases appeared like that, those people would bring ten more people, making me pull my hair out.

“So even you have things you’re not confident about, Clinic Director… Is hair loss really an area humanity hasn’t conquered?”

I nodded.

In modern times, I’ve been calmly telling patients who come for consultations that based on experience, the success rate is less than 20%.

Then no one wanted to try it.

They probably went to find other Korean medicine doctors who claimed confidence or went for transplantation.

“Yes. Except for alopecia areata with clear boundaries, it almost never works.”

“Ah, alopecia areata…”

But Jeong Inseong tilted his head.

“Is the male pattern baldness you said doesn’t work the kind that recedes in an M-shape? It’s not that, it is alopecia areata. Like this bald patch on the crown.”

Ah, alopecia areata?

That has quite good possibilities.

“Not male pattern baldness that goes bald in an O-shape, but actual alopecia areata?”

He was still a student so he didn’t know much about types of hair loss.

I searched for images of alopecia areata on my smartphone and showed them to Jeong Inseong.

“Oh, yes. This looks right.”

“You can think of this as a type of skin disease. I’ve treated it a few times.”

Male pattern baldness and alopecia areata have quite different mechanisms.

Male pattern baldness is expressed by genetic predisposition, and hair gradually becomes thinner and falls out due to the influence of male hormones, classified as M-shaped or O-shaped baldness according to form. Eventually, the crown area and receding hairline combine to create complete baldness.

In contrast, alopecia areata, also called stress-type hair loss, is a skin disease where immune cells cause inflammatory reactions in hair follicles in localized areas.

“Oh, really? How do you treat it?”

“We match the pattern identification and give medicine, and apply herbal acupuncture to the hair loss area. Some Korean medicine clinics use Salvia miltiorrhiza acupuncture. Personally, I found Coptis detoxification acupuncture works better. And for needles, we just place them densely.”

“That has quite high treatment possibilities, right?”

“Hmm, about 60% based on experience? Considering that skin diseases are originally hard to cure, it’s worth trying.”

“Oh!”

Jeong Inseong clapped his hands in delight.

“Then I’ll tell him to come visit once! Please see if it seems treatable.”

“Of course. When he comes, I should treat him as well as possible.”

* * *

Woo Jongsoo had thick hair.

Not a single person in his family was bald, and he himself always heard from hairdressers that he had abundant hair.

So when he entered his thirties and his friends started taking hair loss medication preventively one by one, he wasn’t worried at all.

“Hair loss medication? Doesn’t that have erectile dysfunction as a side effect?”

“If you’re going bald anyway, you won’t have anything to get up, you bastard.”

“Hahahaha!”

He couldn’t understand his friends’ hair concerns at all.

They said their crown was thinning, but to his casual glance, there didn’t seem to be much difference.

“Come on, I need to meet a woman who appreciates my inner sincerity.”

He had little interest in dating either.

Did they really need to try that hard? Hair might fall out a bit as you age.

But everything changed when he became an academy director.

“I want to consult directly with the director about my child’s grades.”

“Ah, yes, yes.”

“My child’s math score dropped by 10 points from last time. What’s going on here?”

“The exam questions came out more difficult…”

Stress he hadn’t known when he was just an instructor.

“Teacher, do you think my child could get into Yonsei or Korea University?”

“With current grades, a lot, really a lot of effort is needed. You should be prepared for retaking the exam once or twice.”

Excuse me, your son is barely hanging on for Seoul universities.

“It’s not like I’m asking you to get him into Korean University! Did you say that to my child too? When you should be encouraging him that he can do it!”

“To be honest, there’s absolutely no possibility with his school grades.”

“There’s the regular admission exam, isn’t there?”

“Yes. The possibility of entering through regular admission isn’t zero, but unlike before, the regular admission quota has decreased significantly. To get the best results in the current situation, focusing on early admission as a current senior is right.”

He can’t even get into Seoul universities through regular admission!

I clearly saw his mock exam report card.

He’d need to lower his standards by two levels compared to early admission, so what on earth is she talking about?

Heat rushed to his head.

Why are there so many people you can’t communicate with?

Of course, there were more normal parents.

But their conversations ended sufficiently with the manager in charge of consultations.

Those who insisted on meeting the academy director were all, without exception, out of their minds.

Besides that, being promoted to a managerial position brought many trivial paperwork tasks.

There was also pressure from headquarters based on entrance exam results and student numbers.

“Argh! Everyone just get lost!”

Woo Jongsoo cried out.

Then one day.

“Jongsoo, what’s wrong with your hair?”

Woo Jongsoo realized he had become a hair loss patient.

“N-no way…”

From then on, everyone he met started making comments about his hair condition.

“Hahahaha, this bastard! He used to tease Gyeongcheol and he’s the first one to lose his hair!”

He received payback for his past karma.

“Hang in there, man. Is work really that tough?”

He also received sympathy and comfort.

“Um, uh… I’m sorry. I don’t think we’re meant to be.”

And all his blind dates were rejected.

Though he had little interest in dating and marriage, once his income stabilized, he wanted to start a family like others. More than half his friends were getting married too.

A woman who would see his inner self regardless of hair loss?

That was bullshit.

The moment he took off his hat, his blind date’s pupils shook.

During an hour of conversation, he couldn’t count how many times her eyes went to his balding area. It seemed like she could only see his hair loss.

After that, he asked matchmakers to reveal that he had hair loss, but then no meetings materialized at all.

Woo Jongsoo despaired.

What had he been living so hard for?

* * *

“So it’s about bringing down the heat that rises to the head.”

Woo Jongsoo diligently wrote down everything the director said in his notebook.

There were various types of hair loss including male pattern baldness, female pattern baldness, alopecia areata, and telogen effluvium, and his condition of alopecia areata had quite a high possibility of treatment unlike his friends’.

The doctor also explained about endocrine system abnormalities causing immune issues and inflammation, but the explanation about heat rising to the head was somehow more intuitively understandable.

How many infuriating incidents had there been over the past year? It was enough to burn away all his hair and then some.

“Yes, in Korean medicine, heat is quite similar to the concept of inflammation. We’ll bring down the rising heat and apply medication that directly treats inflammation to your scalp.”

Woo Jongsoo nodded, somewhat convinced.

Actually, he hadn’t been very enthusiastic about coming to the Oriental Medicine Clinic.

On sites where hair loss patients gathered, whenever Korean medicine was mentioned, there were only people getting angry saying it had no effect at all.

Of course, those who succeeded in treatment would have left those sites, but even considering that, there were too many negative stories.

The only reason he came for consultation today was because he couldn’t ignore the recommendation from Jeong Inseong, his cherished student.

But after actually hearing the Korean Medicine Doctor’s explanation, he felt like trying it at least once.

“Would it be alright to try just one month first?”

“Yes. I recommend that approach too. If it’s going to be effective, you’ll see some improvement by the one-month mark.”

Since he had already entered the Oriental Medicine Clinic full of suspicion, he might have felt resistant if told to just take medicine blindly.

But with sufficient explanation and given choices, he felt trust.

No, beyond trust, he felt like grasping at straws.

“Please, I’m really counting on you.”

Woo Jongsoo’s eyes reddened as he bowed his head.

He made up his mind.

Starting with Korean medicine treatment, let’s try everything possible. Take medicine, try herbal acupuncture and acupuncture treatment.

If that doesn’t work, then go get steroid injections.

If that’s useless too, then get a transplant.

“Let’s start right away from today. I’ll take some photos to check your progress.”

“Ah, yes.”

Click. Click.

“The affected area is about 3cm wide and 5.5cm long.”

“….”

Woo Jongsoo squeezed his eyes shut.

Facing it directly through photos felt different from looking in the mirror.

Please, please let it be effective.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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