Mir Anayat
As rightly said “beautiful makeup starts with beautiful skin”. Beauty and skin are two faces of same coin and go hand in hand. Those people who have good skin care habits from younger age have younger looking skin than caring for it at later years. Organic foods, balanced diet and timely eating habits also contribute for younger looking skin.
Beauty is not about only facial skin it includes all of your skin from head to toe. Experts say that 90 per cent of dark spots, wrinkled and sagging skin are cause by prolonged unprotected exposure in the sun. Most of the experts advise for starting skin care at early age especially for those who have sensitive skin.
As we grow older and older, skin also changes. It is mostly due to collage breakdown in the skin and this happens due to several reasons. There are many ways and means to enhance collagen repair that will improve the damage.
Thousands of skin products in market available on cosmetic showrooms claim promising results to make your skin look younger, brighter and cleaner. It is not all about your appearance but caring and shaping. It is crucial for your overall health and well-being.
Skin is the largest organ in our body much like our heart and kidney. It is our first line of defense and protects us from invasion of germs and other elements. This layer is called epidermis, our body’s first line of defense. It covers second layer of skin called dermis which contains some important structure like sweat glands and hair follicles.
Epidermis is waterproof, thin and tough and slightly acidic in nature. This is how it protects us from damaging bacteria and viruses. It also protects us from harmful sunrays and has pigment containing cells called melanocytes. They are the cells which trains our skin or cause freckles under exposure to prolonged sunlight. However its main function is to protect us from harmful ultraviolet rays of sun which can cause cancer or other skin problems.
As the epidermis becomes dry or damaged, you can look older than you are. To keep your body strong and protected you need to take care of epidermis as it is responsible for all those functions which makes your looks brighter and beautiful.
Never well ever coming is commonly said about most of the chronic skin diseases. It is not true for all. Ignorance and impatient attitude of the patient leads to poor treatment outcome of chronic skin diseases. Monotonous treatment approach and critique advices often lead to failures and misery in life of a psoriatic patient.
Many skin diseases run a chronic course with relapses and remissions. Such diseases put a lot of financial strain but also disrupt the socio-occupational activities. One amongst these chronic skin diseases is called psoriasis.
Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease. It is characterized by scaly skin eruptions with redness affecting elbows, knee and scalp. It is not contagious and has periods of relapse and remissions. It shows genetic predisposition and can be inherited. The signs and symptoms can vary from person to person and climate to climate. Psoriasis is said to be incurable and long term skin condition.
Psoriasis affects both sexes and all races.It can be seen in children as well as adults. People with psoriasis are more likely to have Diabetes, high lipids in blood and cardiovascular diseases.
Psoriasis can vary from individual to individual and can be present in various forms like common plaque type (psoriasis vulgaris), in folds of buttocks, underarm, groin (inverse psoriasis), small puss filled yellowish (pustular psoriasis) and small drop like spots on skin (guttate Psoriasis). It can also affect palms and soles when it is called palmoplantar psoriasis. Some time the entire skin surface is involved with the disease than it is called erythrodermic psoriasis.
It can affect the nails also and where it may be confused with nail fungus. In head it can produce lot of dandruff with dry flakes severe itching and red areas.
Joints can be involved in one-third of affected people. It causes inflammation of joints known as psoriatic arthritis. The commonly joints involve are of hands, ankle and knee. The usual onset of psoriatic arthritis is 30-40 years of age.
Psoriasis also tends to occur at sites of trauma, friction, scratching and abrasion. Once you try to pull off the white flakes of skin, it causes a tiny blood spot on the skin, a diagnostic sign called Auspitz sign.
Psoriasis is common to be found in the members of the same family, though the exact cause remains unknown. Immune regulation is thought to play some role and a combination of genetic predisposition and environmental (stress, cold) factors are also involved. Despite lot of research the main cause still remains a mystery.
Psoriasis patients are prone to suffer from cardiovascular disease so it is important for all patients to be carefully monitored by the treatment giving doctors for heart and blood vessel disease.
The diagnosis of the disease is made after thorough history and clinical presentation of the disease. Investigations could be supportive. Though it is said to be not curable but controllable. Prognosis for the most of the patients is good.
The treatment protocol of homeopathy differs from that of allopathic. Homeopathy lays focus on disease modification through a group of medicines which tries to rectify the constitutional diathesis along with life style changes to that of palliation in conventional treatment.
Recent research shows that a low-fat, low-calorie diet may reduce the severity of psoriasis. A diet that results in weight loss may be helpful. A number of studies have shown that fish oil may improve symptoms of psoriasis. Glutathione is a powerful antioxidant found in garlic, onions, kale, collards, cabbage, and cauliflower. Scientists speculated that a diet rich in antioxidants may help.
Case studies and research published has shown significant results of homeopathic medicines with least side-effects.
A study published in the Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology, a conventional medical Journal, showed that psoriasis patients experienced significant improvement in their quality of life and reduction in their psoriasis symptoms with Homeopathy. And this was without any kind of side-effects whatsoever. Of the 82 patients involved in the study that went on for 2 years, many had suffered psoriasis for as long as 15 years and had previously unsuccessfully tried conventional treatments.
The story first appeared in print edition of June 15.
The author is the medical practitioner and Assistant Editor (Health) with The Legitimate. He is trained in drug de-addiction and Mental health at NIMHANS and has specialization in dermatology.
