Hindawi Publishing Corporation Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine Volume 2013, Article ID 649040, 6 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/649040 Research Article Constructing a Knowledge-Based Database for Dermatological Integrative Medical Information Jeeyoung Shin, Yunju Jo, Hyunsu Bae, Moochang Hong, Minkyu Shin, and Yangseok Kim Department of Physiology, College of Korean Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Seoul 130-701, Republic of Korea Correspondence should be addressed to Yangseok Kim; yskim1158@khu.ac.kr Received 24 June 2013; Revised 3 November 2013; Accepted 17 November 2013 Academic Editor: Seung-Heon Hong Copyright © 2013 Jeeyoung Shin et al. his is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Recently, overuse of steroids and immunosuppressive drugs has produced incurable dermatological health problems. Traditional medical approaches have been studied for alternative solutions. However, accessing relevant information is diicult given the diferences in information for western medicine (WM) and traditional medicine (TM). herefore, an integrated medical information infrastructure must be utilized to bridge western and traditional treatments. In this study, WM and TM information was collected based on literature searches and information from internet databases on dermatological issues. Additionally, deinitions for uniied terminology and disease categorization based on individual cases were generated. Also a searchable database system was established that may be a possible model system for integrating both WM and TM medical information on dermatological conditions. Such a system will yield beneits for researchers and facilitate the best possible medical solutions for patients. he DIMI is freely available online. 1. Introduction It has recently been shown that overuse of steroids and immunosuppressive drugs as well as conventional treatment may cause chronic and incurable dermatological illnesses, which raises the issues of side efects and tolerance from excessive use. Further, unveriied information for treating chronic illnesses wastes patients’ money and time. In addi- tion, it seriously afects their quality of life and requires long- term dedicated care with immense socioeconomic cost [1, 2]. Whereas traditional medicine (TM) focuses on tracking and curing the root of dermatological conditions caused by internal organ malfunction, western medicine (WM) focuses on treating symptoms, which relies on treatments that produce acute and immediate results through antibiotics and anti-inlammatory medicine. Consequently, if patients only rely on antibiotics, the skin’s own immune system can be oppressed and subdued, which leads to its malfunction and eventual development of chronic, hard-to-cure dermatologi- cal conditions. hus, overusing antibiotics for a long period of time can decrease skin’s immune function and lead to antibiotic tolerance, side efects, and dyspepsia [3]. herefore, integrative medicine has been recommended as an alternative method that combines WM, TM, and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). In general, TM stresses the importance of catering ther- apy to each individual’s needs, as opposed to western thera- peutic approaches that are standardized and stress “average” eicacy in large, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies [4]. Many WM and TM areas provide opportunities for produc- tive and collaborative research. In designing such trials in the future, it is important to incorporate concepts from both WM disease identiication and pathogenesis as well as TM syndrome identiication and management into research pro- tocols. Such integration will require collaboration between WM and TM practitioners, sharing the development of protocols, treatment, and information exchange as well as strengthening interpersonal connectivity and leadership [5]. herefore, it is necessary to construct an integrated medical infrastructure to utilize and facilitate integration between western and tradition treatments. he Diseases Database, Medline Plus, and eMedicine Medscape are representative western medical professional