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.