You are currently browsing the category archive for the ‘Skin Boils’ category.
Many people want to treat skin conditions naturally, without having to resort to prescription medications. Read on to get the tips to banish blemishes and put your best face forward—naturally.
All-Natural Tips to Get Rid of Acne
Commonly called pimples and zits, and universally disdained by teenagers and adults alike, acne occurs when skin follicles get blocked by oil or sebum that normally drains to the surface of the skin. The sebum blockage allows bacteria and yeast to grow, causing the skin to become inflamed and the acne to eventually rupture.
Here are my favorite home remedies for acne:
• A cucumber-aloe mask can quickly cool the heat of inflammation. Put one fresh cucumber in a blender, mix with 2 tablespoon of aloe gel, and apply to your skin. Leave on for twenty minutes and then wash off with cool water.
• Drink an all-greens juice. Make tea by boiling one bunch each of fresh dandelion greens, carrot tops, and beet leaves in 7 cups of water for 20 minutes. Strain into a jar and drink 3 cups every day.
• Just a spoonful of honey! Each morning, drink 12 ounces of lukewarm water with 1 tablespoon of honey on an empty stomach. This lubricates the intestines. When you don’t empty the intestines regularly, toxins end up in either the liver or show up on the skin.
• Try tea tree oil, which when applied to acne, may help eliminate bacteria and reduce inflammation. Tea tree oil contains a compound called terpinen-4-ol that is responsible for its antimicrobial activity. Make a tea tree oil solution by mixing 1 part tea tree oil to 19 parts water; use this as a skin cleanser. Oregano oil, which is antimicrobial, can also be used in this manner.
Avoid picking and touching your face, stress, and using chemical cosmetic, skin, and hair care products. Also, medications such as birth control pills, steroids, and psychotropic drugs can trigger or worsen acne.
Natural Treatments for Psoriasis
Upwards of 6 million Americans are affected by this common skin condition. It is a symptom of a faulty skin cell regeneration mechanism. While normal skin cells take up to a month to mature, in patients with psoriasis this process is shortened to 5-7 days, producing excessive skin cells that cause the skin to thicken in raised red areas with silvery scales. Painful oozing lesions may appear and flaking and itching are common. Western medicine relies on steroidal creams, tar cream with UV light treatment, antibiotics, or immunosuppressants for relief.
Natural treatments for psoriasis:
• Soak in sulfur baths or hot spring regularly to help with skin healing. No nearby sulfur baths? Try taking a warm Epsom salt bath.
• Water chestnut paste. Peel and slice 15 water chestnuts and slowly simmer in a non-metal pot with 1 cup of rice vinegar. Allow 20 minutes for the chestnuts to absorb the vinegar. Remove from heat and let cool, drain excess vinegar, and mash the chestnuts into paste. Store in a sealed glass jar. Once a day, apply this paste with a loofa sponge and lightly scrub to thin out the thick patches of skin.
• Milk thistle stops the breakdown of substances that contribute to psoriasis and it protects the liver. Other herbs helpful for psoriasis include yellowdock, sarsaparilla, and calendula. Take as tea or supplement.
• Relieve itching with tonic oil. Mix 10 drops of tonic oil (wintergreen, eucalyptus, and menthol) with fresh aloe gel and apply liberally and frequently.
Avoid exposure to extreme temperature changes and too much sunlight with strong UVA rays. Keep your skin moist and avoid dehydration and constipation. Alcohol, nicotine and caffeine are irritants and can worsen psoriasis. Stress, anxiety and emotional upsets are notorious for initiating flare-ups of psoriasis.
Remedies for Redness
Rosacea is a chronic skin problem that reddens the forehead, nose, cheek, and sometimes the chin. Scientists believe there may be a genetic predisposition to the condition, and some recent research suggests that mites that naturally occur on human skin are more abundant in people with rosacea. Western medicine offerings include antibiotics, creams, and light therapy involving broad spectrum pulsed-light. In my treatment of rosacea, I focus on soothing the spirit, clearing heat, and using natural remedies to remove skin blockages.
Natural remedies for rosacea:
• Create a cucumber mask. Peel the skin off of a fresh cucumber and puree the insides in a blender with one egg white. Coat your face with this mixture, leave on for 30 minutes, and then wash off with cool water. Use this mask daily and you should see improvement within a month.
• Make chamomile tea and soak into clean soft gauze; then place gauze on red area. Change the application every 15 minutes, twice per day.
• A flax fix. Take one tablespoon flax seed oil or fish oil daily. Another option? Top your salads with it as dressing. • Herbal Therapy. Burdock, yellow dock, red clover and cleavers are often used to relieve symptoms of rosacea. I often recommend to my patients with skin conditions our Exquisite Skin Chinese herbal formula to help support healthy skin functions and reduce itching.
Avoid exposure to extreme temperature changes, excessive use of cosmetics, creams, and abrasive skin cleansers. Exposure to sunlight UVA rays can trigger an outbreak. Alcohol, smoking and caffeine are irritants and generate heat that contributes to flare ups. Stress, anxiety and emotional upsets are also notorious triggers.
Skincare Extra Credit
It cannot be overstated that what you put on your face can directly contribute to these kinds of skin conditions. Why not put only the best on your face? Opt for all-natural makeup, moisturizers, and cleansers. I highly recommend the Lamas skincare line and our age-defying rejuvenation cream.
What you eat eventually ends up in your skin. Many of our foods today have chemical and artificial ingredients that can cause allergic reactions and irritate your immune system. Keep a diary of your meals, and be more aware of your physical and emotional reactions to the food you eat. It won’t take long to discover if you have food allergies that worsen your skin conditions.
I hope these natural recipes will remedy and beautify your skin! I invite you to visit often and share your own personal health and longevity tips with me.
–Dr. Mao
Parts utilized
Leaves and stems.
Constituents and properties
• Considered anti-inflammatory, refrigerant, analgesic, antifungal, anticancer.
• Study yielded 5 new bioactive compounds: two secolignans, two tetrahydrofuran lignans, and one highly methoxylated dihydronaphthalenone.
Uses
Nutritional
Leaves and stems may be eaten as vegetable.
In salads, the fresh plant has the crispness of carrot sticks and celery.
Folkloric
Infusion and decoction of leaves and stems are used for gout and arthritis.
Externally, as a facial rinse for complexion problems.
Pounded whole plant used as warm poultice for boils, pustules and pimples.
In Bolivia, decoction of roots used for fever; aerial parts for wounds.
Used for headaches, rhumatic pains, impotence.
In Brazil, used to lower cholesterol; for treatment of abscesses, furuncles and conjunctivitis
New uses
Belongs to the “preferred list” of Philippine medicinal plants, being studied for its use in the treatment of arthritis and gout.
For arthritis: Leaves and stems of the fresh plant may be eaten as salad. Or, as an infusion, put a 20-cm plant in 2 glasses of boiling water; and 1/2 cup of this infusion is taken morning and evening.
Studies
• Analgesic / Antiinflammatory: Extract study of aerial parts of PP tested in rats and mice exhibited anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities.
• CNS Depressant Activity: Study of peperomia leaf extract showed dose-dependent depressant effects probably due to psychoactive substances that are CNS depressant.
• Antipyretic: Study of PP leaf extract on rabbits showed antipyretic effects comparable to a standard aspirin.
• Antibacterial: Study of methanolic extract of PP exhibited a very good level of broad spectrum antibacterial activity.
Source: http://www.stuartxchange.org/Pansit.html
Pansit-pansitan (family: Piperaceae) is an herbal medicine also known as Ulasiman-bato, olasiman-ihalas & tangon-tangon in the Philippines. English name: peperomia. It is a small herb that grows from 1 to 1 1/2 feet. Pansit-pansitan can be found wild on lightly shaded and damp areas such as nooks, walls, yards and even roofs. Pansit-pansitan has heart shaped leaves, succulent stems with tiny flowers on a spike. When matured, the small fruits bear one seed which fall of the ground and propagate.
The leaves and stalk of pansit-pansitan are edible. It can be harvested, washed and eaten as fresh salad. Taken as a salad, pansit-pansitan helps relive rheumatic pains and gout. An infusion or decoction (boil 1 cup of leaves/stem in 2 cups of water) can also be made and taken orally – 1 cup in the morning and another cup in the evening.
For the herbal treatment of skin disorders like abscesses, pimples and boils, pound the leaves and/or the stalks and make a poultice (boil in water for a minute or two then pounded) then applied directly to the afflicted area. Likewise a decoction can be used as a rinse to treat skin disorders.
For headaches, heat a couple of leaves in hot water, bruise the surface and apply on the forehead. The decoction of leaves and stalks is also good for abdominal pains and kidney problems.
Like any herbal medicine it is not advisable to take any other medication in combination with any herbs. Consult with a medical practitioner knowledgeable in herbal medicine before any treatment.
Pansit-pansitan is used as an herbal medicine for the treatment of:
• Arthritis
• Gout
• Skin boils, abscesses, pimples
• Headache
• Abdominal pains
• kidney problems
Source: http://www.philippineherbalmedicine.org/pansit-pansitan.htm
Alternative Home Remedies 