Cleansing: Your skin is a reflection of how well your body is eliminating the toxins that build up on a daily basis. Chronic skin conditions such as acne, eczema and psoriasis stem from a combination of genetic factors, immune stress, dietary deficiencies or sensitivities, and the accumulation of toxins in the body. For our skin to be radiant and clear, it is very important that the other organs of elimination (kidneys, liver, lungs, and colon) are cleansing the body effectively. If not, the skin will be overtaxed, pores will become clogged, and eruptions of one sort or another will result. Here are a number of steps you can take to improve your body's overall elimination wtih specific emphasis on your skin.
l) Think twice about what you put into your body. If you think of your body as a sacred temple instead of a garbage disposal, it will help. What's most important is what you eat every day, not that occasional dish of Haagen Das chocolate chocolate chip. The simpler, more natural, less refined food you eat, the less your body will have to work at detoxification. Make sure that what you ingest is alive so that it can provide the needed energy that it's supposed to. If you think about it, how much real vitality can you gain from a cheeseburger that comes from a cow that's been stuffed with hormones, then fried in oil that may have been sitting around for hours, and perhaps prepared by a cook who was muttering over his or her breath about hwo bad the day was? Now, that may be an exaggeration, but the point is to think before you eat! Once we taught a class on yoga and food where the meal was silent and meditative and we simply concentrated fully on the process of eating. People were amazed at how delicious simple, vegetarian food tasted and how different it was to eat consciously rather than stuff food into themselves without even tasting it.
2) Start out the day with a dry skin brush massage. Buy a medium stiffness sauna brush and brush your skin in concentric circles before you bathe each day. This will stimulate your skin, make those capillaries wake up bright and shining, and help remove any flaky, dead skin.
3) Learn how to fast and, barring conditions such as diabetes, pregnancy, or severe anemia or weakness, set up a schedule of periodic fasts for yourself. Thse fasts can be anywhere from one day a week to several days a month to five to ten days one to four times a year. Consult our fasting articles or classes or Paavo Airola's book on juice fasting for specifics.
4) There are a number of ways to cleanse your body in depth, all of which are very beneficial to the health of your skin. As mentioned in our Pancha Karma article, we individualize detoxification programs according to one's body type. Methods include therapeutic enemas, colon irrigation, natural laxatives and purgatives, and herbs. Some Western herbs which we often use to improve body elimination and skin health include Oregon grape, Dandelion Root, and Burdock, and Knick-Knick. Depending on the nature of the particular skin problem, we might think more of herbs directly affecting the liver, kidneys, or colon.
5) A basic cleansing can be achieved by making sure you have plenty of fiber in your diet. A high percentage of whole grains (50-60%) is adequate for some people. Others need to add additional fiber sources such as oat or rice bran orpsyllium seed or husk, particularly if you have sluggish bowels or a tendency to constipation. For some body types we also recommend periodic bentonite clay which is another detoxifying aid, and is often given in formulas along with other fiber sources such as pectin, guar gum, psyllium, and bran.
Diet and nutritional supplements: Regular consumption of plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, in whole form or juiced, along with legumes, grains, nuts, seeds, and little or no refined, overprocessed foods, fat, sugar, and caffeine will help your skin to stay young and healthy. Pay attention, particularly in the case of hives and rashes, to any foods to which you may be oversensitive. The nutritional supplements that are most of benefit to the skin are Vitamin A (we recommend it in the form of Beta carotene, which is non-toxic, since prolonged use of over 50,000 I.U. of Vitamin A can result in hair loss, skin dryness, and other symptoms of toxicity), Zinc, Vitamin E, and Vitamin C. We suggest these in combination with a mega multi vitamin and mineral containing 25-50 mg of the B vitamins but use higher amount with some skin conditions. Essential fatty acids such as linoleic and linolenic acid are necessary to keep the skin soft and pliable. PABA, often found in sun tan products, helps prevent against damage from the sun's ultraviolet rays.
Lifestyle: Regular aerobic exercise is very important in keeping your skin vibrant and healthy. Inhaling large amount of clean, fresh air not only helps to oxygenate your whole body, including your skin, but is essential in balancing the deeper energy systems of your body. A healthy dose of Viamin D through sunlight is wonderful for the skin, though it has been shown by considerable scientific research that excessive ultraviolet exposure often results in skin cancer and for that reason we discourage the use of tanning beds. Skin eruptions are often aggravated by stress, so it's essential to relax, keep your life stress at a manageable level, enjoy your life and relationships, and express your emotions as they come up rather than bottle them up inside for them to erupt later as herpes or an angry rash.
Natural skin applications: Although treating the skin from the outside in may not get to the underlying cause of your skin problems, it's a useful adjunct and, in some cases, may be all you need. For dry skin, daily massage with unrefined sesame oil or olive oil can help keep the skin supple and moisturized. For skin inflamations or rashes, coconut oil or Aloe veramay have a cooling or soothing effect. When excess oil and toxins are present, such as with cystic acne, we often recommend periodic clay masks to help bring pimples to a head. Itching is often relieved greatly by a warm bath with a cup of baking soda in it to neutralize excess acidity in the skin, oatmeal baths such as Aveeno, or dilute vinegar applications or soaks. Herbal creams or salves containing such herbs as calendula, comfrey, plaintain, and chickweed can be very soothing for the itching of eczema and dermatitis.
Homeopathy: We have found homeopathic remedies to be invaluable to help heal skin conditions, particularly when some or all of the above has been tried without success. We have used Apis mellifica (honeybee) many times for the type of skin rash which is hot, red, swollen, and burning. There are many remedies for eczema, including Graphites (graphite) for the type of eczema which is scaly and oozes a honey-like discharge, Petroleum when the skin is severely dry and cracked to the point of being leathery or like parchment, and Sulphur for eczema with terrible itching, worse after a hot bath or shower, often accompanied by dandruff or athlete's foot. Nearly any skin problem can be benefitted by homeopathy. Skin conditions often heal through homeopathy from the top of the body downwards. We heard of one case of ichthyosis, a severe hardening and drying of the skin which produces which is called "fish skin" where the body cleared first after the correct homeopathic remedy almost miraculously from the head down to the waist, then gradually healed from the waist down.
What is your skin trying to tell you? Often the skin is a metaphor for deeper issues and a way for your body to send up a red flag to warn you that all is not well underneath. One patient came in about six months ago with a terribly itchy and annoying red rash over most of her face.
The visit was also a good excuse to get an overdue Pap smear, which was found to indicate very early cervical cancer, which we treated successfully. She was busy in graduate school and she somehow needed an embarrassing rash to force her to check out her overall health. Her rash was a gentle, though aggravating, message which accomplished just that purpose for her.
The skin also serves as a kind of open book to our emotions. Red, fiery rashes, sometimes brought on by the sun or acidic foods, often mask an underlying fire in the form of suppressed anger or irritability. Dryness and cracking of the skin sometimes go along with a feeling of being emotionally dried up, stuck, or numb. If a person has a stubborn or persistent skin problem, we often use hypnosis or guided imagery to help that person understand why the skin problem has manifested, if there are any emotional issues which need to be addressed, what lessons are to be learned from the experience, and what would be the best path for healing. It is quite common for a skin condition to result from a grief or disappointment, in which case a combination of homeopathy and re-experiencing, releasing, and integrating the traumatic event can alleviate the skin problem once and for all.
Just as our eyes are said to be the windows to our souls, our skin might be considered the door to our temples. Treat your skin with love and respect. It's your friend for life!
Drs. Judyth Reichenberg-Ullman and Robert Ullman are naturopathic and homeopathic physicians and cofounders of the Northwest Center for Homeopathic Medicine in Edmonds, WA. They are coauthors of The Patient's Guide to Homeopathic Medicine and Beyond Ritalin: Homeopathic Treatment of ADD and Other Behavioral and Learning Problems. They can be reached at (206) 774-5599.