The Skin - Reflecting what is happening within

The skin is one of those things that we take for granted until it stops looking or doing what we want it to do. The skin isn’t just there to keep everything protected and in place, it is actually an organ of detoxification. When our other detoxification systems are not working as well, the body can choose to expel toxins through the skin.

Samuel Hahnemann, a German physician, who founded homeopathy, believed that there is a strong connection between the skin and internal disease. The skin reflects what is happening within. A simple example of this is emotions; our skin may flush when embarrassed or angry, or may go pale when we are scared or in shock.

Hahnemann believed that the human skin is not separate to whole and disease on the skin, is not about the skin alone. It can be affected by malnutrition, malabsorption, and imbalances through metabolic or endocrine disorders. His belief was that the skin is intimately connected with the whole and reacts in accordance with the whole, and in my experience I agree.

Hahnemann stated, ‘ Disease expresses itself with a centrifugal force and throws off illness by expressing it in the skin.’ When this expression is suppressed, for example steroids, he believed the disease is driven further inwards and to the vital organs.

One common skin disorder is spots. They start as hard lumps under the skin, then can progress to becoming pus filled, suggesting there is some infection inside, trying to detox through the skin. This could be due to certain food consumption affecting the intestines, such as sweeteners, bad fats or MSG found in fast food. The sweetener aspartame, found in most diet fizzy drinks, low fact yoghurts and sugar free gum, can destroy the good bacteria in the gut, and even reduce the chances of pregnancy when using IVF.*

Stress, hormonal imbalance, toxins from metals or chemicals, infections, parasites, viruses, foods, emotions about self, compromised immune system, autoimmune, inflammation, these can all have an impact on our skin.

In turn, these can lead to emotional stress, vitamin, mineral or essential fatty acid deficiencies, that can impact our skin in some way, for example, dry skin, hair loss, decreased collagen and wrinkles, slow wound healing, dermatitis, alopecia, cracks and sores around the mouth, skin rashes, psoriasis, impaired nail and hair growth.

So if something doesn’t seem right with your skin, remember that there could be something deeper inside going on that needs your attention.