Healing from the inside out

While the glossy ads with promises to cure every skin disease under the sun sound promising, they are usually nothing more than a bandaid. Whether it is a steroidal based cream or a bees wax based calendula salve, relief of symptoms may occur, but they in no way represent a cure of any sort. These remedies are only temporary at the best of times.

The truth is that the majority of  chronic skin disorders are stemming from inside the person, not just the outside. Different causes related to the nervous, hormone, immune, digestive, and circulatory systems are where the problem lies. Why else would a woman’s acne get temporarily better when they go on the birth control pill? Why do people with psoriasis have a higher risk of heart disease?  Why would certain food items trigger one’s eczema to flare up? The answer is very simple – because the problem is on the inside.

That is why proper treatment has to involve medicines that are ingested into the body, so as to correct the root causes of the problem. Good therapy for most skin disorders is a process of “healing from the inside out”. Creams, salves, lineaments, washes, ointments, or whatever product that one applies to their skin is good and can actually be extremely useful, but is of course limited in its ability to reach the depths of ones internal environment, where the real problem is.

Chinese medicine has always held this to be true, offering a wide range of treatments that suit an individuals needs. When I was a student Doctor in the dermatology ward of a busy hospital in Chengsha, China, I would see roughly 60 patients every morning. The range of skin disorders was huge, everything from psoriasis to the various forms of eczema from acne to warts, from vitiligo to rosacea, from rubella to peri-oral dermatitis. Every single patient, with the exception of many fungal disorders, would be prescribed a custom fit herbal tea to drink daily, as well as an external remedy to apply directly to the skin. Results were usually good, depending on the severity of the condition being treated.

Without the internal medicine, results can be superficial. Consider a story my very first herbology teacher, Dr. Terri Willard, told me way back in 1991. While not a doctor of Chinese medicine himself, he did have lots of good thinking and advice. He said,

“To remove the smell from a stinky garbage can, you have to clean it with soap and water. Scrub it out! Spraying lysol overtop will only hide the real problem, which is that the can needs a good clean.”

Consider the role of herbal medicines, for the treatment of most any skin disorder, to be a way to clean out the inside world in order for proper healing to occur. Combined with good dietary nutrition, herbal medicines are the best way to “heal from the inside out.”

Wishing you health,

Dr. Trevor Erikson