Skin
Your skin is the largest organ in your body, your first defence against the outside world. It is directly connected to your whole-body health. We specialise in treatment for Psoriasis, Acne, Eczema, Urticaria & Vitiligo.
As you pursue optimal skin health, we will work with you to consider the quality of your lifestyle, nutrition, and beauty choices. A holistic approach that emphasises the interconnectedness of all three areas, is the healthiest and most sustainable method way balancing skin issues.
Nutritional status plays an important role in the maintenance of healthy skin. Macronutrients (carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids) and micronutrients (vitamins and nutritionally essential minerals) work together to maintain the barrier functions of skin in the face of everyday challenges.
Your gut can also communicate with your skin. Researchers found that 46% of rosacea patients tested positive for SIBO (small intestine bacterial overgrowth), and that patients with rosacea were nine times more likely to have SIBO than patients without rosacea. How exactly does a gut infection lead to facial redness and irritation? SIBO damages gut lining, causing leaky gut, which leads to the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines (regulators of host immune responses that promote inflammatory reactions) resulting in skin inflammation.
In an ideal situation, your healthy gut and immune system will be reflected in your beautiful skin. A healthy gut will even synthesise extra vitamins and minerals that benefit your skin, such as the B vitamins thiamine and riboflavin.
Treatment for Psoriasis
Psoriasis is a common skin condition that speeds up the life cycle of skin cells. It causes cells to build up rapidly on the surface of the skin. The extra skin cells form scales and red patches that are itchy and sometimes painful.
Psoriasis is a chronic disease that often comes and goes. The main goal of treatment for Psoriasis is to stop the skin cells from growing so quickly.
Symptoms:
Psoriasis signs and symptoms are different for everyone. Common signs and symptoms include:
- Red patches of skin covered with thick, silvery scales
- Small scaling spots (commonly seen in children)
- Dry, cracked skin that may bleed
- Itching, burning or soreness
- Thickened, pitted or ridged nails
- Swollen and stiff joints
Psoriasis patches can range from a few spots of dandruff-like scaling to major eruptions that cover large areas. Most types of psoriasis go through cycles, flaring for a few weeks or months, then subsiding for a time or even going into complete remission.
Causes
The cause of Psoriasis isn’t fully understood, but it’s thought to be related to an immune system problem with T cells and other white blood cells, Contacted neutrophils, in your body. T cells normally travel through the body to defend against foreign substances, such as viruses or bacteria. But if you have psoriasis, the T cells attack healthy skin cells by mistake, as if to heal a wound or to fight an infection. Overactive T cells also trigger increased production of healthy skin cells, more T cells and other white blood cells, especially neutrophils. These travel into the skin causing redness and sometimes pus in pustular lesions. Dilated blood vessels in psoriasis-affected areas create warmth and redness in the skin lesions. The process becomes an ongoing cycle in which new skin cells move to the outermost layer of skin too quickly — in days rather than weeks. Skin cells build up in thick, scaly patches on the skin’s surface, continuing until treatment stops the cycle. Just what causes T cells to malfunction in people with psoriasis isn’t entirely clear. Researchers believe both genetics and environmental factors play a role.
Psoriasis triggers:
Psoriasis typically starts or worsens because of a trigger that you may be able to identify and avoid. Factors that may trigger psoriasis include:
- Infections, such as strep throat or skin infections
- Injury to the skin, such as a cut or scrape, a bug bite, or a severe sunburn
- Stress
- Smoking
- Heavy alcohol consumption
- Vitamin D deficiency
- Certain medications — including lithium, which is prescribed for bipolar disorder, high blood pressure medications such as beta blockers, antimalarial drugs, and iodides
Treatment for Psoriasis will focus on identifying the root causes through bespoke functional medicine testing and addressing these root causes with tailored natural medicine to resolve the symptoms in a lasting way.
If you would like to book an appointment
Contact Deborah’s Medical Secretary for an appointmentAcne Treatment
Acne is a skin condition that occurs when your hair follicles become plugged with oil and dead skin cells. It often causes whiteheads, blackheads or pimples, and usually appears on the face, forehead, chest, upper back and shoulders. Acne is most common among teenagers, though it affects people of all ages.
Symptoms
Acne signs and symptoms vary:
- Whiteheads (closed plugged pores)
- Blackheads (open plugged pores)
- Small red, tender bumps (papules)
- Pimples (pustules), which are papules with pus at their tips
- Large, solid, painful lumps beneath the surface of the skin (nodules)
- Painful, pus-filled lumps beneath the surface of the skin (cystic lesions)
For many women, acne can persist for decades, with flares common a week before menstruation. This type of acne tends to clear up without treatment in women who use contraceptives. In older adults, a sudden onset of severe acne may signal an underlying disease requiring medical attention.
Causes
Four main factors cause acne:
- Excess oil production
- Hair follicles clogged by oil and dead skin cells
- Bacteria
- Excess activity of a type of hormone (androgens)
Acne typiContacty appears on your face, forehead, chest, upper back and shoulders because these areas of skin have the most oil (sebaceous) glands. Hair follicles are connected to oil glands.
The follicle wall may bulge and produce a whitehead. Or the plug may be open to the surface and darken, causing a blackhead. A blackhead may look like dirt stuck in pores. But actually, the pore is congested with bacteria and oil, which turns brown when it’s exposed to the air.
Pimples are raised red spots with a white center that develop when blocked hair follicles become inflamed or infected with bacteria. Blockages and inflammation that develop deep inside hair follicles produce cystlike lumps beneath the surface of your skin. Other pores in your skin, which are the openings of the sweat glands, aren’t usually involved in acne.
Factors that may worsen acne
These factors can trigger or aggravate acne:
- Hormones. Androgens are hormones that increase in boys and girls during puberty and cause the sebaceous glands to enlarge and make more sebum. Hormonal changes related to pregnancy and the use of oral contraceptives also can affect sebum production. And low amounts of
- Androgens circulate in the blood of women and can worsen acne.
Certain medications. Examples include drugs containing corticosteroids, testosterone or lithium. - Diet. Studies indicate that certain dietary factors, including skim milk and carbohydrate-rich foods — such as bread, bagels and chips — may worsen acne. Chocolate has long been suspected of making acne worse. A small study of 14 men with acne showed that eating chocolate was related to a worsening of symptoms. Further study is needed to examine why this happens and whether people with acne would benefit from following specific dietary restrictions.
- Stress. Stress can make acne worse.
Treatment will take into account all lifestyle, diet and age factors including hormone status. Functional medicine tests will be used to understand the root causes of your skin issues. Then a tailored plan will be created utilising natural medicine in order to heal the root issues and allow the skin to heal.
If you would like to book an appointment
Contact Deborah’s Medical Secretary for an appointmentRosacea Treatment
Rosacea is a common skin disease. It often begins with a tendency to blush or flush more easily than other people.
The redness can slowly spread beyond the nose and cheeks to the forehead and chin. Even the ears, chest, and back can be red all the time.
Rosacea can cause more than redness. There are so many signs and symptoms that rosacea has four subtypes:
- Erythematotelangiectatic rosacea: Redness, flushing, visible blood vessels.
- Papulopustular rosacea: Redness, swelling, and acne-like breakouts.
- Phymatous rosacea: Skin thickens and has a bumpy texture.
- Ocular rosacea: Eyes red and irritated, eyelids can be swollen, and person may have what looks like a sty.
Women are a bit more likely than men to get rosacea. Women, however, are not as likely as men to get severe rosacea. Some people are more likely to get rosacea, but anyone can get this skin disease. People of all colors get rosacea. Children get rosacea.
Causes
Scientists are still trying to find out what causes rosacea. By studying rosacea, scientists have found some important clues:
- Rosacea runs in families. Many people who get rosacea have family members who have rosacea. It is possible that people inherit genes for rosacea.
- The immune system may play a role. Scientists found that most people with acne-like rosacea react to a bacterium (singular for bacteria) Contacted bacillus oleronius. This reaction causes their immune system to overreact. Scientists still do not know whether this can cause rosacea.
- A bug that causes infections in the intestines may play a role. This bug, H pylori, is common in people who have rosacea. Scientists cannot prove that H pylori can cause rosacea. Many people who do not have rosacea have an H pylori infection.
- A protein that normally protects the skin from infection, cathelicidin, may cause the redness and swelling. How the body processes this protein may determine whether a person gets rosacea.
Treatment
According to the traditional medical community, the cause of rosacea is unknown and there is no cure for the condition. In contrast, functional/holistic practitioners take the skin symptoms into account, but also use them as signals to uncover deeper issues going on beneath the surface.
As with most health conditions, there are multiple underlying factors in rosacea rather than just one cause. Functional medicine tests will be used to understand the root causes of your skin issues. Then a tailored plan will be created utilising natural medicine in order to heal the root issues and allow the skin to heal.
If you would like to book an appointment
Contact Deborah’s Medical Secretary for an appointmentEczema Treatment
Atopic dermatitis is an immunological disease, which means it involves the immune system. With atopic dermatitis, your immune system is highly sensitive and can react to even the smallest allergens or irritants. This can cause inflammation underneath your skin, which may lead to frequent flare-ups. So those rashes on the surface are just the visible signs of a deeper inflammatory disease.
Symptoms
Atopic dermatitis (eczema) signs and symptoms vary widely from person to person and include:
- Dry skin
- Itching, which may be severe, especially at night
- Red to brownish-gray patches, especially on the hands, feet, ankles, wrists, neck, upper chest, eyelids, inside the bend of the elbows and knees, and in infants, the face and scalp
- Small, raised bumps, which may leak fluid and crust over when scratched
- Thickened, cracked, scaly skin
- Raw, sensitive, swollen skin from scratching
Atopic dermatitis most often begins before age 5 and may persist into adolescence and adulthood. For some people, it flares periodiContacty and then clears up for a time, even for several years.
Causes
Like many diseases, the etiology of eczema is multifactorial. However, we have seen many patients achieve complete resolution with the proper diet, lifestyle, and supplemental support
Treatment
During treatment we will consider and naturally treat:
- Many patients with eczema have underlying food intolerances and therefore can benefit greatly from food intolerance testing and the Paleo Autoimmune Protocol.
- Nourish the body with nutrients that support skin health and optimal immune function, whether in food or supplemental form.
- Support gut health with probiotic and prebiotic foods.
Address heavy metal toxicity. - Emphasize stress management and encourage patients to find a technique to practice daily.
- Recommend strict avoidance of detergents and other topical irritants that can cause skin barrier permeability and exacerbate inflammation.
- Consider the role of histamine.
If you would like to book an appointment
Contact Deborah’s Medical Secretary for an appointmentUrticaria (Hives) Treatment
Urticaria, also known as hives, is an outbreak of swollen, pale red bumps or plaques (wheals) on the skin hat appear suddenly — either as a result of the body’s reaction to certain allergens, or for other reasons.
Symptoms
- Raised itchy bumps, either red or skin-colored
- “Blanching” (when pressed, the center of a red hive turns white)
Hives usually cause itching but may also burn or sting. They can appear anywhere on the body, including the face, lips, tongue, throat, or ears. Hives vary in size (from a pencil eraser to a dinner plate) and may join together to form larger areas known as plaques. They can last for hours, or up to one day before fading.
Hives Triggers
- Some food (especially peanuts, eggs, nuts and shellfish)
- Medications, such as antibiotics (especially penicillin and sulfa), aspirin and ibuprofen
- Insect stings or bites
- Physical stimuli, such as pressure, cold, heat, exercise or sun exposure
- Latex
- Blood transfusions
- Bacterial infections, including urinary tract infections and strep throat
- Viral infections, including the common cold, infectious mononucleosis and
- hepatitis
- Pet dander
- Pollen
- Some plants, such as poison oak and poison ivy
Treatment
The first step is to identify the root cause, or the imbalances, that are triggering symptoms. Collecting data is essential to determine the course of treatment. Functional medicine tests will identify any root underlying causes and then a tailored plan will be implemented utilising natural medicine and often nutritional therapy.
If you would like to book an appointment
Contact Deborah’s Medical Secretary for an appointment