Old Home Remedies For Natural Hints, Tips and Remedies for a Green Healthy Life Style.

Alternative Medicines for ACNE

All sorts of alternative ways of healing have become more popular in recent years. Although they are largely ignored by the medical establishment, they often provide sensible complements and alternatives to existing methods.

 Homeopathy – Alternative Medicines for Acne

In homeopathy, illness is fought with substances which would produce the same illness in healthy people. The basis of homeopathy is: to heal like with like. Instead of suppressing an illness, the patient’s own natural resist­ance is stimulated. Natural substances are used, mainly obtained from plants. These medicines are strongly diluted in order not to make the illness worse. When making his diagnosis, a homeopathic doctor looks at the patient as a whole and not just his illness; this means that psychological and social factors are included in the diag­nosis. There are various homeopathic preparations for acne.

Natural Medicine – Alternative Medicines for Acne

In natural medicine, the healing powers present in every human organism are supported in order to cure or pre­vent illness. An illness is seen as a sign that the whole body is disturbed; there is no such thing as a diseased organ. According to natural healing practitioners, all illnesses can be traced back to the accumulation of too much waste matter in the body as a result of persistent faulty habits of diet, posture, movement, breathing and emotional tension..

One of the main natural medicine cures for acne is high colonic irrigation (when the bowels are thoroughly cleaned out). The idea behind this is that the acne has been caused because of an accumulation of waste matter in the intestines. Food that stays too long there begins to ferment and this gradually poisons the body. These harmful substances are normally purified by the liver. If, however, the liver has to process too many poisonous substances, the overload has to be cleared through other channels, the skin being one of them, and this produces acne. By cleaning out the intestines – a painless treat­ment – the blockage is cleared, the body cleansed and the acne should subside. In a German books the following tips are given for acne:

1) Take regular steam baths with infusions of cornflowers, chamomile, and com horsetail; then rinse the face in cold water.

2) A chamomile and corn horsetail infusion is also suit­able for washing the face. Face masks can be made with clay or yeast.

3) For internal use, drink nettle and dandelion tea. Iceland moss tea is also effective when drunk over a long period.

Herbal Medicine – Alternative Medicines for Acne

For centuries herbal medicine has been an important method of healing. Herbs are prescribed by many alter­native medical practitioners. However, there are some practical problems: herbs are difficult to store and to make up into precise doses and their availability depends on the harvest.

A Dutch book says the following about acne:

Acne treatment lasts at least a year and may not always produce results. Certain oils are prescribed to nip illness in the bud and remove infections. The patient is advised to eat only small amounts of carbohydrates, sugar, potatoes, bread and pulses. Acne patients with emotional problems are given traces of silicon in combination with vitamin C as well as manganese with copper, copper, gold and silver combined, and herbs such as lady’s mantle, gromwell and stonecrop.

Herbs containing silicic acid can be used on the face. Lady’s mantle applied to the face will give good results. The acne patient can make their own clay facemasks and apply them twice a week. (Mix one dessertspoonful of clay to 150 cc water, brush on the face and leave for twenty minutes.)

Others recommend the following herbal remedy.

Yarrow helps to clear spots and is good for a greasy skin. It can be used in a face pack or drunk in a tea made from the leaves and flowers. Leaves of the dead-nettle can be made into an infusion which can be used as a mildly astringent face lotion. Lemon balm and lime flowers also make good face washes. Eating watercress is said to help maintain a good complexion. Lotions and creams can also, be made from cucumbers and elderflowers.

Water Therapy – Alternative Medicines for Acne

The following tips are from another German book. Wash in cold water in the mornings. Take a cold footbath one evening, and sprinkle the thighs with cold water the next. A warm cornflower compress is also useful. Toughening the skin is essential. Water and air are con­sidered the most important medicines for the ill and sensitive skin. A daily brisk stroll is advised and the more rain, wind or hail there is the better. Umbrella and mackintosh should be left at home. Those with chronic skin complaints are advised to take a water cure, as can be found at seaside spas and certain specialist health spas on the Continent.

Bee Ointment – Alternative Medicines for Acne

Tests have recently been carried out in Sweden with bee ointment as a cure for acne and it seems to have produced good results. The main ingredient is beeswax which is used in folk medicine as a natural antibiotic as well as to increase resistance to germs. Bee ointment otherwise consists of pollen, vitamin A and essential pine oils which themselves help to disinfect the skin and stimulate the circulation.

Bee ointment produces no undesirable side-effects and is on sale at most health food shops.

Old Wives’ Remedies – Alternative Medicines for Acne

There are almost as many old wives’ remedies for acne as myths about what causes it. Some of these are: eat a moderate amount of fresh yeast, wash in cold water in the mornings, drink orange juice on an empty stomach, rub your saliva or urine into your face in the mornings. Barley water and onion water are also said to be good for acne. These are prepared as follows:

1) Wash the grains of barley and simmer for an hour; add lemon peel after half an hour. Drain off the water, set it to cool and drink a glass three times a day.

2) Boil a chopped onion in two large glassfuls of water. After five minutes remove from the heat and leave to stand for ten minutes, then strain. Drink a glass every morning and evening. I also found information on treating acne in my reading on acupuncture and reflexology. The information was, however, too insubstantial to be worth summarizing here.