Integrative Medicine is now taking hold in the specialty of Dermatology. If you haven’t heard of it, Integrative Medicine makes use of a wider variety of therapies, some ancient, some alternative, along with conventional medicine, to help patients heal. The lifestyle and diet of patients are more closely examined and recommendations for changes are made to treat or prevent disease or symptoms.
For my field there are many interconnections between the gut and the skin. For example, we know that weight lifters who use whey protein supplements can worsen their acne. Dairy, or a high glycemic diet can also cause acne.
Recent studies have shown that the gut bacteria of patients with inflammatory skin diseases like acne or psoriasis is different—with less of the microbiota needed to control inflammation. Introducing probiotics to the gut may have some effect on improving acne. Probiotics may be considered a therapeutic option for acne, to provide a synergistic, anti-inflammatory effect when used in combination with oral antibiotics.
So what else can you do to improve your gut health? Reduce stress! Your whole body makes changes when it gets ready for “fight or flight.” If you are under stress for a prolonged period, that’s when the unhealthy bacteria take over in the gut and cause inflammation, which in turn can be exhibited in your skin as acne, eczema or rosacea.
