Skin health nutritionist · Online across the UK
Skin Conditions
Acne, eczema, rosacea or psoriasis that keeps coming back? Identify the root causes with an experienced, UK-registered nutritional therapist and get a functional medicine plan built around you.
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Which skin conditions can we help with?
Choose what you're experiencing to see what may be behind it and how we can help.
Adult acne
Spots, blackheads or deeper, sore breakouts that carried on past your teens or started in your twenties or thirties, and come back when treatment stops.
Often linked to
Your options
A consultation looks at your skin alongside your digestion, diet, stress and any test results, to understand what may be driving the breakouts and tailor your therapy. If your skin comes with gut symptoms, or seems to follow what you eat, testing may be recommended either as a first step, or later on.
Keep using what your GP or dermatologist has prescribed while the cause is looked into.
Consultation
Comprehensive Consultation£180Want to discuss your symptoms or test options? Book a free 15-minute Discovery Call
Eczema or dermatitis that keeps returning
Dry, itchy, inflamed patches that calm with steroid cream and come back when you stop, often worse at night or in winter.
Often linked to
Your options
A consultation looks at when your eczema flares, your diet, your gut, stress and any test results, to understand what may be keeping it going and tailor your therapy. If flares seem to follow food or come with gut symptoms, testing may be recommended either as a first step, or later on.
Eczema that is weeping, crusted or suddenly much worse, or comes with a fever: see your GP the same day, as it may be infected.
Consultation
Comprehensive Consultation£180Want to discuss your symptoms or test options? Book a free 15-minute Discovery Call
Flushing & redness after food or wine
Your face and neck turn red and hot soon after wine, aged cheese, cured meats or a large meal, sometimes with a racing heart or a headache.
Often linked to
Your options
A consultation looks at what you eat and drink, when the flushing comes, your gut and any test results, to understand what is behind it and tailor your therapy. Where histamine looks involved, testing may be recommended either as a first step, or later on.
Swelling of your lips, tongue or throat, or difficulty breathing: call 999.
Consultation
Comprehensive Consultation£180Want to discuss your symptoms or test options? Book a free 15-minute Discovery Call
Hives & itching with no clear trigger
Raised, itchy welts that appear and fade within hours, or itching with no rash at all, and no obvious cause.
Often linked to
Your options
A consultation looks at when the hives or itching come, what you eat, stress, sleep and any test results, to understand what may be setting them off and tailor your therapy. Where histamine looks involved, testing may be recommended either as a first step, or later on.
Hives with swelling of your lips, tongue or throat, or difficulty breathing: call 999.
Consultation
Comprehensive Consultation£180Want to discuss your symptoms or test options? Book a free 15-minute Discovery Call
Hormonal acne
Deep, sore breakouts that follow your hormones, often along the jaw and chin: in the week before your period, after coming off the pill, or around perimenopause.
Often linked to
Your options
A consultation looks at when your breakouts come and how they track your cycle or stage of life, alongside your diet, stress and any test results, to understand what may be driving them and tailor your therapy. Where hormones look involved, testing may be recommended either as a first step, or later on. Our hormonal imbalances page covers hormones in more depth.
Periods that are irregular or have stopped, or new hair growth on your face or body: see your GP as well.
Consultation
Comprehensive Consultation£180Want to discuss your symptoms or test options? Book a free 15-minute Discovery Call
Psoriasis that comes and goes
Raised, scaly patches on your elbows, knees, scalp or elsewhere that flare with stress, illness or diet and settle again, without ever quite going.
Often linked to
Your options
A consultation looks at your flares alongside your digestion, diet, stress and any test results, to understand what may be driving them and tailor your therapy. If your skin flares with your gut, testing may be recommended either as a first step, or later on. Our immune system support page covers psoriasis as an autoimmune condition.
Painful, stiff or swollen joints alongside psoriasis: tell your GP, as the two can be linked.
Consultation
Comprehensive Consultation£180Want to discuss your symptoms or test options? Book a free 15-minute Discovery Call
Rashes after particular meals
A rash, itching or a flare that turns up hours or even a day or two after eating, which makes the food behind it hard to pin down.
Often linked to
Your options
A consultation looks at what you eat, when the reactions come, your gut and any test results, to narrow down what may be behind them and tailor your therapy. If reactions seem to follow food, testing may be recommended either as a first step, or later on.
A reaction within minutes of eating may be an allergy: see your GP. Call 999 if your lips, tongue or throat swell or breathing is affected.
Consultation
Comprehensive Consultation£180Want to discuss your symptoms or test options? Book a free 15-minute Discovery Call
Rosacea
Redness across your cheeks and nose that does not fade, sometimes with small bumps or visible blood vessels, flaring with heat, alcohol, spicy food or stress.
Often linked to
Your options
A consultation looks at your triggers alongside your digestion, diet, stress and any test results, to understand what may be driving the redness and tailor your therapy. If it comes with gut symptoms or reactions to food and drink, testing may be recommended either as a first step, or later on.
Sore, gritty or red eyes with rosacea: see your GP, as it can affect the eyes.
Consultation
Comprehensive Consultation£180Want to discuss your symptoms or test options? Book a free 15-minute Discovery Call
Skin that flares with your gut
Breakouts, eczema or redness that come and go with your digestion. Creams calm the surface but don't stop the flares.
Often linked to
Your options
A consultation looks at your skin alongside your digestion, diet, stress and any test results, to understand what may be driving the flares and tailor your therapy. If your skin flares with your digestion, testing may be recommended either as a first step, or later on. Our gut health page covers the gut symptoms in more depth.
Keep using what your GP or dermatologist has prescribed while the cause is looked into.
Consultation
Comprehensive Consultation£180Want to discuss your symptoms or test options? Book a free 15-minute Discovery Call
What is usually behind skin conditions?
Skin seldom flares on its own. It most often travels with the gut, or with a reaction to food or histamine, and tends to settle when that does. A skin nutritionist helps identify yours and shapes a plan personalised to your needs.
An imbalanced gut (the gut-skin axis)
The most common partner of inflammatory skin conditions, and where we usually look first.The gut and the skin are closely connected. When the gut microbiome is out of balance or the gut lining is inflamed, that inflammation can show up in the skin.Read more
Sound familiar?
- Skin that flares with bloating, reflux or a change in your stools
- Breakouts or eczema that creams calm but don't stop
- Food that used to be fine now causing problems
What can lead to it
- Courses of antibiotics
- A gut infection or food poisoning
- A diet low in fibre and variety
- Long-term stress
Our approach
We look at what is unsettling your gut and build a plan to rebalance it, alongside the nutrients your skin needs to repair, adjusting it at each follow-up.
How we investigate
You can start with a consultation, or with the GI-MAP + Zonulin, which maps your gut microbiome, screens for infections and inflammation, and measures zonulin, a marker of the gut barrier. Our gut health page goes into these causes in more depth.
Want to discuss your symptoms or test options? Book a free 15-minute Discovery Call
Food sensitivities
Everyday foods that keep low-grade inflammation going, often hours or days after eating.A food sensitivity is a delayed immune reaction to a food, usually one you eat often. Because the reaction can come hours or even days later, the link to your skin is easy to miss.Read more
Sound familiar?
- Rashes or flares that seem to follow meals
- Eczema or acne that changes with your diet
- Bloating, headaches or tiredness alongside your skin
What can lead to it
- An irritated or leaky gut lining
- Eating the same few foods most days
- Gaps in the nutrients the gut lining needs
Our approach
We identify the foods most likely to be involved, guide you through removing and reintroducing them safely, and support your gut so that fewer foods cause a reaction over time.
How we investigate
The Food Sensitivity & Intolerance Test (200+) measures your IgG immune response to more than 200 foods and ingredients from a finger-prick blood sample, with vegetarian and vegan versions. Results guide a supervised elimination plan; they are not a diagnosis or a list of foods to avoid for life. Our food allergies and intolerances page covers food reactions in more depth.
Want to discuss your symptoms or test options? Book a free 15-minute Discovery Call
Histamine intolerance
Behind much of the flushing, hives, itching and rosacea-type redness we see.Histamine is released by the immune system and found in many foods. When the body breaks it down too slowly, it builds up and can show in the skin as flushing, itching or hives.Read more
Sound familiar?
- Flushing after wine, aged cheese or cured meats
- Hives or itching with no clear cause
- A blocked nose, headache or racing heart after certain foods
What can lead to it
- An irritated gut lining, where the DAO enzyme that clears histamine is made
- An imbalance in the gut bacteria, some of which produce histamine
- Genes that slow how you clear histamine
- Stress
Our approach
We work out how much of your histamine load comes from food and how much from your gut, then lower it step by step while supporting how your body clears it.
How we investigate
The Histamine Intolerance Test is a cheek swab that looks at the genes behind the two enzymes your body uses to clear histamine (DAO and HNMT). Where the gut looks involved too, the GI-MAP + Zonulin can show why.
Want to discuss your symptoms or test options? Book a free 15-minute Discovery Call
Hormones
Hormonal acne, and skin that changed with puberty, pregnancy, the pill or perimenopause.Hormones affect how much oil the skin makes and how inflamed it gets, which is why skin often changes when hormones do.Read more
Sound familiar?
- Breakouts in the week before your period
- Acne along the jaw and chin
- Skin that changed after coming off the pill, or in perimenopause
What can lead to it
- Shifts in the balance of oestrogen and progesterone
- Higher levels of androgens (male-type hormones)
- Blood sugar swings
- Long-term stress
Our approach
We look at how your hormones, blood sugar and stress fit together, and shape a nutrition and lifestyle plan to support a steadier balance.
How we investigate
Hormone patterns often show clearly in your history, so a consultation is a good place to start. Where testing helps, the DUTCH Plus maps your sex and stress hormones and how your body processes them, from dried urine and saliva. Our hormonal imbalances page goes into hormones in more depth.
Want to discuss your symptoms or test options? Book a free 15-minute Discovery Call
Stress and sleep
Both raise inflammation, and both disrupt the skin's overnight repair.Stress hormones raise inflammation and can unsettle the gut, and poor sleep cuts short the hours when skin repairs itself. Itching then breaks sleep further, and the cycle keeps going.Read more
Sound familiar?
- Flares in a stressful week or after a run of bad sleep
- Itching that is worse at night
- Skin that improves on holiday
What can lead to it
- Long-term work or life stress
- Broken or short sleep
- Alcohol and late meals
Our approach
We work out which of these are really in play for you and what is realistic to change, and build that into your plan rather than handing you a list of rules.
How we investigate
Usually best started in a consultation. Where stress hormones look involved, the DUTCH Plus maps your cortisol through the day.
Want to discuss your symptoms or test options? Book a free 15-minute Discovery Call
What is it like to work with a nutritional therapist?
You’ll work with one practitioner, one to one and online, from start to finish. Carmen Martinez-Vidal is a UK-registered nutritional therapist with over 15 years in functional medicine. She looks at your skin alongside your gut, diet, hormones and stress to work out what’s driving it, advises on and interprets any testing, and designs a personalised protocol to address the root causes, refining it with you at each step.
Should I see a skin nutritionist or take a test first?
There's no one-size-fits-all approach to skin. We shape your therapy around your symptoms, history and goals, whether you begin with a consultation or a test.
One-to-one consultation
Start here if you’ve already tried other routes or want a comprehensive review of your health. Carmen assesses your history, diet, lifestyle and symptoms in depth to identify possible underlying causes, design a targeted action plan and recommend whether testing is worthwhile.
60-minute Comprehensive Consultation · £180
At-home testing
Start here if you’d like answers from a test first. We can help you choose if you’re not sure which test is right for you. Your results are then professionally interpreted and explained in a Lab Findings Review (£99) with Carmen, or applied to a personalised plan in a full Comprehensive Consultation (£180).
Skin-related tests from £250
See the testsNot sure where to begin?
Talk it through with Carmen on a free 15-minute video call to understand your best first step.
Which tests can help with skin conditions?
Looking at your skin alone rarely shows what is setting it off. A test can reveal what is happening beneath the surface, so the changes you make are aimed where they count. Explore the tests below to see which might suit you.
Comprehensive Stool Test (GI-MAP) + Zonulin
See what is living in your gut and whether your gut lining has become leaky, from one stool sample.
- 88 markers
- Results in 21 working days
- Free UK delivery
Explore more skin tests
All at-home tests →Not sure which test is right for you? Book a free Discovery Call
What do our clients say?
Common questions about skin conditions
Can a nutritional therapist help with acne, eczema or psoriasis?
Yes, alongside your GP or dermatologist rather than instead of them. A registered nutritional therapist does not diagnose or treat skin conditions. What we do is look for what may be driving your skin from the inside, most often the gut, food reactions, histamine, hormones or stress, and build a nutrition and lifestyle plan around what your history and any testing show.
Which test is best for skin problems?
It depends on your symptoms and history. The tests most relevant to skin look at the gut (the Comprehensive Stool Test (GI-MAP) + Zonulin), at delayed reactions to everyday foods (the Food Sensitivity & Intolerance Test (200+)) and at how your body clears histamine (the Histamine Intolerance Test). If you are unsure, Carmen can help you choose on a free 15-minute Discovery Call.
Should I see a nutritional therapist or a dermatologist?
Often both. A dermatologist diagnoses skin conditions and prescribes treatment for the skin itself. A nutritional therapist looks at what may be driving it from the inside, such as the gut, diet and stress, and works alongside anything you have been prescribed. Keep using your prescribed treatment while the cause is looked into.
How long before my skin improves?
Skin renews itself slowly, so plans are written for months rather than weeks, and many people notice changes in their digestion or energy before their skin. Progress is reviewed at follow-up consultations and the plan adjusted as you go.
How much does a food intolerance test cost in the UK?
At Nutrition Diets Clinic the Food Sensitivity & Intolerance Test (200+) is £280, the vegetarian and vegan versions are £250, and the Histamine Intolerance Test is £300. All are at-home kits with free UK delivery and a prepaid return. Having the results explained is a separate, optional consultation.
Is eczema linked to gut health?
Often, yes. The gut-skin axis is one of the better documented of these connections: when the gut lining is inflamed and the microbiome is out of balance, that inflammation can surface in the skin, eczema included. It is why eczema that has not settled with creams is often looked at from the gut.
Is everything done online?
Yes. The Discovery Call and every consultation are by video, so you can work with an online skin nutritionist from anywhere in the UK, and every test is a home collection kit.
When should I see my GP first?
If a mole or patch is changing, bleeding or growing, or a rash comes with a fever, see your GP first. If your lips, tongue or throat swell, or you have difficulty breathing, call 999. These need medical assessment, and we will always ask you to have it.
Still have questions? Ask Carmen on a free 15-minute video call.
Book a free Discovery Call
