Where does your skin stop? We usually take the largest organ of our body for granted, expecting it to cover and protect us, but where exactly does it end? At what point is there no longer skin? I ask this question because it's a concept that most, even in the medical world, really haven't spent much time thinking about.
When I ask this question to students, I get a variety of quizzical looks. They aren't really sure why the question is pertinent. If pressed, most say that the skin stops at the lips, nostrils, eye sockets, ear drum, urethra, and anus (all the openings). I then ask, "well, does it really?" I admit this line of thinking is really a trick question. I don't see any end to the skin; it is one large continuous sheet, we just can't see all of it. We are much like a doughnut, with one side of the "hole" being our nose and mouth, and the other being our anus.
Modern Medicine has, in my opinion, chopped the skin into two different segments and given each a specialty. The outer or "dry" skin has been given to the dermatologists, while the inner or "wet" skin has been given to the gastroenterologists or ears/nose/throat specialists. If we start looking at the skin as a whole, both wet and dry at once, we see connections that are often overlooked.
Wet skin, or our digestive tract, is a long tube that allows for the holding and processing of a variety of building blocks, energy sources, minerals, vitamins, and other food stuffs to replenish and rebuild ourselves. It has a specific structure that allows for absorption of certain things while maintaining its barrier function to keep other things out. That is, providing it is working properly. I contend that due to a variety of factors, most of our digestive tracts have suboptimal or downright improper function, either not allowing for proper absorption of what we need or improper barrier protection from that which we don't.
When the wet skin is subjected to certain stressors, its function can become impaired. These stressors can include everything from emotional stress to imbalanced intestinal bacteria to high sugar intake to low fiber intake to alcohol consumption to prescription drug use. Our modern American diet and lifestyle wreaks havoc on our wet skin, slowly and silently degrading our life. But if you look closely for the right things, you may see its cry for help.
Because I see the skin as one continuous sheet, I look for connections that Modern Medicine doesn't. When I see the dry skin having problems, I work with the patient to focus instead on improving the health of the wet skin. More often than not, the expression of dry skin problems is really a wet skin issue. Things like psoriasis, acne, rosacea, eczema, and many other "skin" problems, are really reactions to what is happening in our intestinal tract, or the wet skin. Because we cannot see inside, we often don't make that connection, but it is usually there. When I am able to help patients heal their wet skin, it is amazing for them to see their dry skin start to heal and look normal, often for the first time in decades.
I firmly believe that if we carefully looked at medical records of both gastroenterology and dermatology patients, we would see that many conditions have overlaps that are being ignored. Others are just put off as medically "normal", even though the health of the wet skin is far from good. When we start to look at the skin as a whole system, both wet and dry, and use integrated treatment protocols that can actually heal the wet skin, I believe we'll see a whole lot less "dry" skin problems. Until then though, we'll continue to spend millions of dollars putting things on the outside, when the problem is on the inside.
Look for future blogs that will give more information and insights into improving your health with natural health care. You can also visit my website, like me on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter.
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