Please see the referral section of this website for a physician skilled in acupuncture near you. I include the Western diagnosis criteria because I think, as just an example, it is ridiculous to treat someones dizziness with acupuncture if what they need is to have excessive wax cleaned out from their ear canals. On the other hand, if one is having difficulty controlling or improving ones asthma with Western treatments, a trial of acupuncture makes utmost sense. This is difficult to say because of the wide variations in the styles of acupuncture performed. Generally three to fifteen needles will be placed.
Costs vary depending on locale and practitioners training and experience.
Physicians because of their experience and background in infection control have the perogative of using re-usable sterilized needles. These needles would need to be sterilized in the same way as any surgical instrument. Because blood loss and bleeding are minimal with acupuncture, I am not aware of any attempt to require acupuncturists to wear gloves. My review of the literature on the risk of infection associated with acupuncture assures me that if one receives acupuncture from a licensed practitioner in North America the risk of a serious infection is drastically less than the risk of a serious accident while traveling to the acupuncturist's office. The exception to this might be acupuncture being delivered in a hospital setting.