Acne, Eczema, Psoriasis, and Other Skin Conditions
Skin conditions like acne, eczema, dermatitis and psoriasis affect about 15 million people in the United States, and this includes children and infants. While symptoms will vary from person to person, you may be interested to know that skin conditions like these are inflammatory in nature, even auto-immune as in the case of psoriasis, that affects the skin cells.
I have found two great articles on this topic that will give you great insight in helping you to achieve clearing skin naturally. In the first article here, I went to PubMed, The US National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health (our government site for tested information), for their take on skin conditions. This article is titled “Diet and Dermatology”. In the second article here, a natural, functional medicine doctor, Dr. Jockers explains all the skin conditions in detail titled, "18 Ways to Beat Eczema, Acne, and Psoriasis". I’d like to share an experience I had with one of my children. My youngest son had issues with psoriasis when he was about three and four years old. He had what his pediatrician called “weeping psoriasis” on both of his knees. The condition only seemed to get worse as he was getting older. It bothered him immensely. We tried many over the counter creams as well as ones his doctor prescribed to him. Nothing worked.
During this time, he was also struggling with severe asthma, repeated colds, pneumonia, and allergies. We brought him in for testing and we found that he had allergies to dogs, cats, dust and typical hay fever. He had activity-induced asthma. He was given an inhaler, and we were instructed to get rid of all the carpeting in the house as well as our family dog; a German Shepard mutt we got from the animal welfare. We were never told of the possible allergy or dietary connections. We got rid of the carpet in the house, but we did not get rid of the dog. My son was born with this dog and she was like family. Anyway, shortly thereafter, his weeping psoriasis had disappeared! All on its own! I didn’t know it at the time, but his skin condition was most likely due to his common environmental allergies. As he grew older, he outgrew his asthma and he wasn’t sick any more, except for the hay fever. I’m so glad we didn’t have to get rid of our beloved family pet. Dr. Jockers points out key factors to address when dealing with these chronic skin inflammatory disorders, like blood sugar balance, low vitamin D, gut health, poor sleep and even emf exposure.
As far as nutrition is concerned for skin health, the PubMed article writes the following. “Broad recommendations for dietary change include well-known, and well-substantiated, specific dietary advice. Patients should increase their intake of fruits and vegetables. They should limit sugar and saturated fat. They should emphasize an intake of foods in their natural state over highly processed foods as well as whole grains over processed grains.”
Many people believe that in order to fix their acne out breaks, they must apply something topically. I myself suffered from monthly acne break outs and rosacea in the past. I chalked it up to be my Irish heritage and “monthly” related and thought this was something I was just going to have to live with. When I finally got serious about healthy living, I noticed my “monthly” break outs no longer happened. My Irish rosy cheeks were no longer inflamed. I was eating right and taking probiotic supplements. These conditions were cleared up by my own body when I gave it the right tools.
Though oils such as jojoba, olive, rosehip, as well as castor oil, and essential oils like tea tree and lavender, is better than lotions for skin conditions, it is still best to check the gut-skin connection by eating probiotic-rich foods and taking probiotic supplements will help greatly. Even painful cystic acne will be relieved.
I hope these two articles can help you to find just the right balance of lifestyle, nutrition, and treatment that will lead you or your loved one to healthy, beautiful skin.