Skin Conditions
About
The skin is the largest structural organ, acting as a protective barrier against external pathogens, as well as detoxifying and removing waste from the body.
Your skin is a reflection of your inner health and nutrition status, providing insight into what might be going on within your body.
Symptoms
Skin conditions are much more common than you might think and can affect people at any stage in their lives. There are many types and the symptoms vary accordingly:
- Acne
- Cracking or flaking
- Dull skin
- Inflammation, swelling
- Itchiness
- Peeling
- Redness
- Sores, ulcers
The health and quality of your skin says a lot about what is going on beneath its surface. If you have any of the above symptoms, these may be a manifestation of underlying imbalances, or even chronic illness.
Causes
Skin conditions can be caused by imbalances, either in the skin’s own microbiome, the gut microbiome, diet and/or lifestyle, as well as hormonal and autoimmune issues. Other common causes include:
- Dehydration
- Essential fatty acid deficiencies
- Food allergies/intolerances
- Fungal overgrowth
- Gut issues
- Liver congestion
- Prolonged use of medication
- Stress
Common conditions include — acne, dermatitis (eczema), psoriasis, rosacea, Raynaud’s syndrome, vitiligo.
Skin diseases are the fourth most common cause of human illness, and skin conditions are now the most common reason people in the UK visit a GP or clinician.
1 in 4
people in the UK have a chronic skin condition
100,000
new cases of skin cancer reported every year in the UK
70%
of people with skin conditions said it affected their confidence
Treatments
We use a multi-faceted approach to investigate the underlying causes of your symptoms, assessing potential imbalances in your diet and lifestyle, as well as using functional testing if necessary to dig deep beneath the surface of your skin complaints.
Nutritional Therapy
Food is your friend.
Dermatological disorders have long been associated with nutritional deficiencies. This can be due to inadequate intake, malabsorption or improper utilisation due to underlying digestive issues, whilst excess nutrients and metabolic disorders also influence skin health.
Maintaining good gut flora is key as most inflammatory skin diseases are associated with gut dysbiosis (imbalance), which in turn is affected by nutrition, hormonal health and inflammation.
We assess your diet to understand if imbalances or intolerances exist, then design a personalised Nutrition & Lifestyle Action Plan aimed specifically at improving your gut health, eliminating inflammatory, high-histamine foods, and ensuring an adequate and balanced intake of nutrients.
Lifestyle Coaching
Empowers you to be at your best.
As clinicians, it is key for us to understand your daily lifestyle so we can identify potential triggers of inflammatory skin conditions and introduce necessary changes as part of a Nutrition & Lifestyle Action Plan.
We look at stress factors in your life as these play a key role in skin conditions, altering the demand for nutrients in the skin, causing inflammation and disrupted sleep (frequently associated with inflammatory skin conditions due to skin itching at night time). Adequate sleep is necessary for optimal DNA repair activity in the skin.
Alcohol and smoking are also linked with dehydration, causing tissue inflammation and triggering or exacerbating skin conditions such as dermatitis, rosacea and psoriasis.
Functional Testing
Harness the power of science.
As your skin health is linked to your gut health, hormones, immunity and food intolerances, getting to the root cause of your skin problems can be complex.
Depending on your health history, symptoms and circumstances, we may recommend Functional testing to pinpoint specific imbalances that may be the cause of your skin condition, as well as give us deeper insight into the state of your underlying health.
There are several types of diagnostic tests to choose from. If you are interested in Functional testing, we can discuss which test is right for you and your budget during the consultation.
Once the test has been completed and we have the lab results, we interpret the data and implement these findings into your Nutrition & Lifestyle Action Plan.
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To ensure the continued practice of safe and reliable therapy, all consultations are currently being conducted virtually.
Satisfied Patients
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Fraser R
Skin Condition, Coeliac, Autoimmune, Digestion,I highly recommend Carmen at Nutrition Diets. As a Coeliac I've always had a very sensitive stomach and have battled with gut problems for the majority of my life. Recently I've been having problems with my skin where I've been getting acne like symptoms. I got in touch with Carmen and explained what was happening to me, she was very clear in coming up with a plan and organised some tests for me. Once the results came back for those tests, we had a consultation where she explained what was happening to me and why, it all made sense when she expressed that certain foods were more problematic than others (Fermented foods made my skin worse etc.), she knew exactly what was wrong with me (gut permeability and liver toxicity) and I was put on a protocol to help heal my gut and liver. 3 months later my skin has totally cleared up and I can feel a noticeable change. Carmen is very knowledgeable, she clearly knows what she is talking about and on top of that is passionate about what she does. I would highly recommend getting in touch with her even just for an assessment. I have already recommended her to friends and family who have gut problems.