Survey on public perception about facial candling

Allergic rhinitis is one of the common chronic respiratory system diseases happen to start from childhood. The use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine are very popular in Malaysia in reducing the symptoms of allergic rhinitis such as acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine. Facial candling (lilin resdung) is another method practiced by Malaysian to reduce allergic rhinitis symptoms. However, there is no study done to examine the public knowledge and perception about this practice as it can be said as new in Malaysia. The primary objective of this study was to describe public perception about facial candling and to evaluate public knowledge about allergic rhinitis as well as facial candling. This study is a cross-sectional study using random sampling method. Online questionnaire was developed and distributed across Malaysia. There were six sections in this questionnaire to gather public perception about facial candling. The six sections included the demography characteristics, facial candling users' information, knowledge about allergic rhinitis as well as respondents' perception and facilitators to use facial candling. Data collected were analyzed using SPSS and presented using descriptive statistical method. A total of 825 respondents responded to this study, 72. 7% respondents knew about facial candling treatment and 36.5% had undergone the treatment. The age and ethnic group was found significantly associated with facial candling use. There was also significant difference between gender (p=0.000) and race (p=0.001) associated with facial candling's perception.