How an integrative dermatologist treats eczema
Integrative Dermatology is relatively new in Western countries despite existing for thousands of years. This kind of dermatology complements existing medical practices with alternative healing modalities that make use of Traditional Chinese Medicine, herbs, and acupuncture, to name a few.Â
An Integrative Dermatologist acknowledges the connection of all the organs, searches for imbalances found internally and externally as well as the behavior of a patient before treating a skin issue. Dr. Peter Lio, one of the more known practitioners, shared his experiences and expertise on how to heal Eczema in one of the episodes of The Less Stressed Life Podcast. Â
Here are four ways integrative dermatology treats Eczema:Â
- Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). A combination of herbs, acupressure/acupuncture, movements like Tai chi, and diet. This kind of modality acknowledges and treats both the mind and body to heal ailments. One of the things you would also like to address when treating Ec...
Root Causes of Eczema: bacterial imbalances
Eczema and skin rashes are not just one trigger, but often a “perfect storm” of many triggers.Â
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Today, let’s talk about bacterial overgrowths.Â
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Bacterial overgrowths are kind of like weeds in a lawn. There are many situations that allow weed overgrowth and too many of them shift your lawn (or microbiome) from looking lush and beautiful to looking, well, weedy.Â
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The same thing can happen as a root cause of eczema. Again, there are usually a few co-factors, like digestive inadequacies or the skin acting as an organ of elimination, but an overgrowth of “weeds” or opportunistic bacteria is a common root cause I see in practice.Â
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Let’s take the case of Eli:Â
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Case Study: Eli’s eczema flaresEli’s eczema had an interesting pattern. A couple of days before he got common cold symptoms, his skin would start flaring. When we saw his stool test, there was no denying his eczema was definitely rooted in gut imbalances—Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus, and many others. Af...
