Acne

This skin condition may be quite a harmless and minor ailment, but it does not seem that way to the 80 per cent of all teenagers who have it. It is in many ways a rite of passage destined to blight some part of our adolescent years. The various unsightly combinations of red spots, pustules, black­heads, and cysts appear mainly on the face and back. While hormonal in origin, it is also linked to the sebaceous glands (source of the sebum that covers and protects the skin), which become infected. Acne most often diminishes or cures itself spontaneously by the age of 18 or 20. The rarer, more severe forms (four per cent of cases) may require treatment with antibiotics or vitamin A (Roaccutane@)

What causes acne?

- Just before the onset of puberty, the sebaceous glands on the face, shoulders, and chest begin producing an excess of sebum

- This glandular hypersecretion, which is linked with the production of male hormones (in girls as well as in boys), combines with an increase in dead cells that block up the pilosebaceous gland. The sebum then accumulates beneath the skin, forming microcysts and black­heads

- The skin's bacteria find a favourable growing environment in the oily sebum, which only exacerbates the symptoms

Some tips on cleanliness

These are important to follow:

• Do not use household soap on your face, very good though it may be for laundry, for this will dry out your skin. Similarly, avoid antibacterial solutions (liquid soaps) which are too harsh
• Instead, use facial cleansing bars, moisturizing soaps, and mild cleansing gels, which cut down on the production of sebum without harming the skin
• Do not scrub your face with a flannel, still less with a massage glove, for this will eliminate the skin's protective film and promote irritation
• Be careful in the sun, because although sunlight improves the skin in the short term, there may be a further outbreak of spots when the holidays are over

Dietary advice

• Avoid sweetened foods as much as possible
• Do not eat too much bread or starchy foods (such as pizza or quiche), fats (dishes with sauces, cream, mayonnaise). or chocolate
• Limit your intake of dairy products, especially of whole, unskimmed milk
• Stay away from smoked or cured meats, ready meals, and hamburgers
• Tinned foods should be avoided if possible
• Eat plenty of fruit, vegetables, and cereals +++
• Take one tablespoonful of olive oil or borage (Starf/ower) oil per day
• Cigarettes and alcohol will not improve your skin
• Treat any constipation through simple, natural nutritional means.

The natural food for the skin

Brewer's yeast

Origin: A living substance specially prepared as a supplement, from a minute fungus that serves as a ferment in the preparation of beer. It is not the same as baker's yeast. and is better tolerated by the digestive system.

Composition and properties: Yeast is packed with B vitamins, minerals (such as chromium, phosphorus, potassium, and selenium) and essential amino acids. It reinforces the immune system, helps fight infections, and restores the balance of intestinal flora. It boosts the health of the skin, nails, and hair.

Method of use: It is obtainable from health food shops and pharmacies in the form of tablets, capsules, and flakes for sprinkling on food.

Oligotherapy

Zinc

Trace elements are usually found in the diet, which should be varied and of high quality. In cases of deficiency, zinc can be given as a medicinal supplement.

Dietary sources of zinc

Zinc is most plentiful in seafood, oysters ++, fish and shellfish, but it is also found in cereals. some vegetables (broccoli, mushrooms, spinach, and beans), brewer's yeast, walnuts, whole­ meal bread, egg yolks, and meat.

• Zinc treatment: this is available in various brands and forms - such as Organic Minerals (Colloidals) which contains 70+ trace minerals:
  - Available in 946ml bottles
  - Take 1-3 caps just before breakfast and/or evening meal
  - Children 1 teaspoon daily for each 20lbs of body weight

Or Maximol (Ionized colloidals):

- Available in 500ml bottles
- Take 1/2 capful once or twice daily on an empty stomach

• You could also try trace-element combinations such as Premtis@ (Lam­berts), which includes iron, magnesium, calcium, folic acid, copper, zinc, vitamins B12,B6 and others:
  - Available in containers of 120 tablets
  - 2 tablets to be taken daily
• You could also try Lamberts@ ZindCopper, which contains a blend of zinc( 15mg per tablet), and copper (1 mg per tablet):
  - Sold in containers of 90 tablets
  - Take 1 tablet daily on an empty stomach

Vitamins

Principally vitamins A, B, C, and E:
- Vitamin A preserves the skin's elasticity, promotes healing, and helps the skin resist infections
- the B vitamins play an important role in the health of the skin, helping to combat seborrhoea and blackheads
- Vitamin C contains anti-infective properties
- Vitamin E speeds up the healing process and helps prevent skin ageing

• You could also try Megavit@ (Lamberts), which combines vitamins A, B, C, and E, and zinc, selenium and the bioflavonoids:
  - Sold in containers of 60 and 180 tablets
  - 1 to 2 tablets daily

A mineral treatment: clay

This substance cleans the skin deep down by absorbing all the impurities like blotting paper, tightening the dilated pores of the skin as it dries.

Preparation: You can buy it as a loose powder from a speciality shop or from some pharmacies. Prepare it by adding it to water (and not the other way round) in order to avoid lumps, and stir. Leave the mixture for at least an hour before applying it to the affected areas twice a day.

Homeopathy

Kalium bromatum and Selenium

- Four 5c tablets of one or both of these remedies to be sucked slowly between meals, twice a day for several weeks

Kalium bromatum

- Chemical origin: potassium bromide
- The specific homeopathic remedy for hardened pustules in oily skin

Selenium

- Mineral origin: metallic selenium
- The homeopathic remedy for oily skin with blackheads
- A specific indication: marked fatigue

• You could also try psorinoheel@ (Heel), a type of homeopathic skin purifier which contains Sulfur D6, Psorinum D10, Medorrhinum D12
  - Available in drop bottles of 30 and 100ml
  - Take 10 drops 3 times daily
• It is also important that you combine these treatments with a constitutional remedy, to be chosen after consultation with a professional homeopath. Some likely choices are Natrum muriaticum, Sepia, or Sulfur

Sulfur

- Mineral origin: sulphur
- The constitutional homeopathic remedy for skin problems
- Two specific indications: the skin condition is made worse by water, and improved by cold

Herbal remedies

Burdock and heartsease

Possible Prescription: Ask your herbalist to make up a 30ml bottle of mother tincture of one of these two plants. Take 25 drops in a little water three times a day for several weeks.

Burdock

This plant has long been used for making poultices, but is also very effective against skin infections, and helpful for most skin conditions generally. It also acts as a depurative (or blood-purifying agent), which makes it a useful treatment for bouts of fever or rheumatism.

Heartsease

Also known as wild pansy, this plant is a member of the violet family, and has always been used to treat skin ailments. Its aerial parts have a detoxifying effect which helps treat itching, acne, or eczema.

• You could also try Herba Naturelle Heartsease:
  -Available in bottles of 50ml and 100ml
  -20 drops 3 times daily in a little water

Ask your herbalist to make up a 60ml ottle of burdock in a whole fresh plant suspension (this formulation's cold stabilization process restores the full natural therapeutic effect of the plant). Take half a teaspoonful in a glass of water twice a day. This is not to be taken by children under 15 years of

Calendula

Possible Prescription: Obtain a 30ml bottle of mother tincture of calendula (or marigold) from your herbalist. Sprinkle a few drops on a compress and apply it two or three times daily to the affected areas.

Calendula

The petals of the marigold flower possess healing and antiseptic properties that make this a most useful plant for minor skin wounds that have developed a secondary infection, and it is a principal ingredient in most soothing creams. This herb also promotes purification and drainage, which means that it is helpful in eliminating toxins.

Nettle

• You could try Nature's plus Nettle, which contains 250mg of extract of nettle:
  - Available in containers of 30 capsules
  - Take 1 capsule daily

Nettle

Nettle has always been widely used for its medicinal properties, despite its painful, stinging hairs. These contain histamines and formic acid, which produce the itching, painful rash. But the plant itself has depurative, tonic, and remineralizing properties, and is also helpful for skin complaints. The young shoots can be eaten as a vegetable (cooked in soup) for their fortifying virtues, and the aerial parts are used in the preparation of herbal remedies. Nettle root has a diuretic effect.

Skin problems come in many shapes and sizes. For acne treatment options, check out natural homeopathy. You don't need expensive laser hair removal or botox injections to have healthy skin. You can even find a wrinkle treatment that has nothing to do with drugs and surgery.