In Chinese medicine there are relatively few causes of skin disease. It basically comes down to three things- lifestyle, diet, and ones constitution (ie genetics). In order to correct illness then, all of these factors must be taken into consideration.
For example, if a someone suffering with long term psoriasis continues to work 12 hour days in very stressful environments and does not get enough rest balanced with appropriate exercise, then the likely hood of this person’s psoriasis clearing is limited. Stress signals coming from the brain to the skin via nerve pathways will be at full extreme overload. Basically, the skin never gets a break to heal.
Another example would be someone who continues to eat foods that are clearly aggravating that individual. Things like alcohol, refined sugar, and/ or individual allergens like (for some individuals) dairy, wheat, soy products, etc. If a person continues to consume these products, the inflammation that is caused, either through an allergic or toxic effect, will continue and their skin may not improve.
Lastly, ones constitution is very important. A person may have been born with a weak digestion, whose ability to absorb nutrients and eliminate toxicity is poor, thus increasing the likely hood of skin disease to persevere. Also ones genetics is important. If a person’s mother has psoriasis then they have a 30% chance of developing it. If both parents have psoriasis, then the chance goes up to 60 or 70%.
All of these factors have to be recognized and accounted for in the treatment. I will say though, in terms of diet and lifestyle, there is more.
In my practice it seems many people with skin disease, like psoriasis or eczema, usually see a Naturopath before seeing me. Most of the time these patients are told to reduce stress and avoid certain foods which they could be reacting to. The individual does and many times they see some change, occasionally major, but from what I see, usually minor. I would say that patients who just try to change the foods in their diet, see very limited results to their chronic skin problem.
The reason patients do not see complete remission, or cure, when relying just on dietary change (even if the diet was what may have originally caused or triggered the skin problem) is simple. By removing certain foods that are having an aggravating effect in the body, only lowers the fire by lessening the fuel it receives. Something needs to be added to body to actually put the fire out! To me, this is where herbal medicine comes into play.
The herbs consumed need to be specific to the individual, as the way in which fire manifests on people is different from person to person. As I have mentioned in the past, THERE IS NO SINGLE ONE REMEDY TO CURE SKIN DISEASE. An herb that works for one may not, and may actually aggravate, another.
Herbal medicine works best in formulations, poly-pharmacy style, rather than singular ingredients. The herbal formula needs to change as the individuals skin changes, which is the true beauty of Chinese Medicine, and is why I believe Chinese medicine can achieve such good results with chronic skin disease. The herbal formula is designed specifically for the individual.
By adding in the herb factor, the patient increases the available resources to them by 500+ ingredients. Compare this with trying to just rely on dietary changes found in the standard North American diet of maybe 20 different foods, and it is not hard to see the difference. Of course avoiding certain junky and/ or allergic foods is important for healing, but there is often a limit to this. Once one feels like they have reached this limit, feels like there is not much left for them eat, and yet are still suffering with a skin problem, then it is truly time to try something different- perhaps Chinese herbal medicine. (Or see a Chinese herbal dermatologist a lot sooner!)
Dr. Trevor Erikson
Copyright © 2019 Dr. Trevor Erikson