A Holistic Approach to Treating Common Skin Diseases

Dr. Marina Landau

Dermatology Specialist

The skin is the largest organ in the human body, accounting for approximately 15% of the overall body weight. It is also entirely visible, and so are all the processes that occur in it. The vast majority of the world’s population has suffered from some type of skin disease at one point or another.

One of the most common skin diseases today is atopic dermatitis or “skin asthma”, which affects approximately 20% of the children. While its incidence slightly decreases with age, it is also very widespread among adults too. The main manifestation of this disease is skin dryness that spans the entire body, accompanied by constant and extreme itching. The disease worsens during winter or in especially dry weather.

Seborrhoeic dermatitis is also a skin disease that is highly prevalent among the population. This disease usually appears during infancy, disappears, and returns during the third-fourth decades of life. Its main manifestation is scaling on the sides of the nose, scalp and frontal hairline, eyebrows, as well as on the skin of the chest and buttocks.

Although psoriasis is considered by most as a “severe” skin disease, it is a disease that affects about 7% of the population and its manifestations are mostly mild. These manifestations include scaling on the elbows and knees and dandruff.

In recent years, sensitive skin has become a common complaint at dermatological clinics. Mainly, this concern people who complain about burning skin that is prone to redness after contact with almost any product. The cause for the constant increase in sensitive skin is not entirely clear.

The treatment of the four diseases mentioned above requires a comprehensive approach—both medical and cosmetic.

Medically wise, all of these conditions require treatment that will decrease the inflammatory process that appears in all of them. Cosmetically wise, the support of the epidermal barrier of the skin—the structure responsible for preserving the moisture in the skin—is required.

The epidermal barrier is a complex structure that includes cells and intercellular substance, who are in accurate balance.

Quality and designated moisturizers, which facilitate the preserving of the epidermal barrier and increase the skin’s moisturizing capability, assist the treatment of this large group of diseases.