I'll keep this short and sweet.
Topical treatments for things such as acne, eczema, psoriasis, and the like are NOT ENOUGH and will likely do basically nothing to actually improve your skin.
What appears as a surface skin condition is anything but. These conditions often feature complex immune responses and triggers from the nervous system, the gut, the immune system, even diet. We know that individuals with acne and eczema have overgrowths of certain bacteria in their gut that drastically impacts there skin inflammation levels and drives inflammatory processes, progressing the condition. We know that psoriasis is an autoimmune condition and is heavily affected by stress (as are most skin conditions). We know that the role of the gut and stress manangement is a HUGE portion of immune regulation. So why do we think chucking some cream on top is going to change all of those underlying factors?
It's quite literally the tip of the iceberg.
When we treat holistically, we look at every part of your body to assess where the triggers are coming from and how we can bring your body back to homeostasis. For skin conditions this looks like: assessing your blood sugar control and diet, assessing your stress levels and appropriate nutrient stores, assessing your immune history and family's immune history, assessing your skin barrier function and your gut microbiome. All of these factors are essential to understanding your skin and why it's reacting that way. Only then can we plan appropriately to allow your immune system to calm down and heal the skin.
What I will say about topical treatments - they do a great job of protecting the skin from external factors (wind, sun, dryness etc). That's it... the rest comes from the inside. We can use topical treatment to aid in reducing the itchiness and the dryness to a degree, but this won't heal the wounds.
I'll leave you with this info sheet on the gut-skin axis as it relates to acne as an example.
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