Health, like beauty, is more than skin deep. The health of your skin depends how well your hormonal, digestive, and immune systems are functioning.
Your skin is your body’s largest organ. It protects you against invading bacteria and water loss, it helps keep your body temperature stable, and is filled with nerve endings that let you feel pleasure and pain.
Your skin is also a window into how well the inner systems of your body are functioning. Most common skin conditions don’t actually come from the skin at all, but from your internal processes. With proper testing, dietary adjustments, and optimization of your digestive and immune systems, your skin will be glowing!
Do you have any of the following conditions? A naturopathic doctor can determine which systems are out of balance, and help get your skin beautiful and radiant.
Acne
It’s no secret that hormones play a role in acne, but did you know your digestion is almost as important? Because your skin works to eliminate toxins from your body, if you’re not digesting or eliminating properly, then your skin picks up the slack and excretes metabolic waste and toxins. Acne can be a symptom of hormonal imbalance, toxic buildup, or immune system dysfunction.
Eczema
Eczema is part of a triad of symptoms that appear when people have allergies they might not know about. Asthma and hay fever are the other two conditions, and if you have one of these three, your chances of having the others goes up as well. Treatment for eczema involves identifying what’s triggering flare-ups. This is often found in the diet, and food sensitivity testing (for IgE antibodies, the same kind that give you hives) can quickly determine the culprits. Environmental factors may also be involved, and stress is a known trigger for eczema flare ups.
Psoriasis
Psoriasis is an autoimmune condition where you get itchy, red, scaly plaques from skin cells growing too quickly, especially on the elbows and knees. Psoriasis usually shows up on the outer surfaces of joints unlike eczema, which shows up on the inner surfaces of knees and elbows. Some of the drugs used to treat psoriasis have severe side effects, which is unfortunate since there are effective natural alternatives.
Skin infections (cold sores, impetigo, fungal infections)
If you or your kids get frequent or recurring skin infections, it’s a sign of suboptimal immune system function. Cold sores are caused by the herpes simplex virus and are highly contagious. Impetigo is a bacterial infection that can look very similar to cold sores, and occurs much more often in children. Fungal infections like ringworm and athlete’s foot are common. Anytime you get infections often, it means your immune system needs some help. Luckily we’re here to help boost it!
Treatment
Naturopathic medicine can be very effective in treating skin conditions like acne, psoriasis, eczema, frequent infections, and other conditions not mentioned here. Because the skin is a reflection of what’s going on in your body at a deeper level, we work to determine what the root cause is so your skin can be clear and healthy. Starting with a complete health history, we look at your diet and lifestyle, perform the right tests to determine where the problem is in your case, and choose the right treatments from an extensive toolkit of natural therapies. We have tools to strengthen your immune system, reduce inflammation, and balance digestion, and get to the bottom of your symptoms and balance your skin naturally.
Skin conditions vary in how long it takes to see results, but all of them are treatable using naturopathic medicine! Call and book an appointment with our clinic today to find out how it can help you!
