Real and unreal skin ailments! And Homeopathy!

What does this title suggest? We all know that skin is the largest external organ and any skin ailment visible is considered as objective skin disease. Objective symptom is called as the sign of the disease and is thought to be a reliable source for accurate diagnosis in any case as per the conventional mode of treatment. Then how can there be unreal skin ailments?

Well, unreal skin ailments are the diseases stuck in the minds of patients. As a practitioner, we daily come across numerous acne cases. Some cases are really bad where we need to intervene medically but some cases are such that externally we see negligible lesions but the patient describes them as if he or she has acquired some life-threatening malady. This is when I call them unreal skin ailments. But that does not mean unreal skin ailments need not be treated. Rather in most cases of ‘unreal skin ailments, quite deep acting homeopathic medicines are required to remove that psychological block in these patients.

Even some back flower remedies like crab apple revolve around the same philosophy. You cannot overlook the psychological overlay in any skin disease, it says. Among various organs in our body run by the psychosomatic balance, skin tops the list. First organ to depict the psychological or mental disharmony is skin. Yes it is true that everyone’s propensity to develop symptoms in certain organ is pre-determined by genetic factors but in majority of cases, skin is the organ affected first (if not along with other organs).

Homeopathic philosophy substantiated!

Homeopathy gives maximum importance to subjective symptoms. Rather, mere objective signs have no value in homeopathic prescription. “Mind” is the organ that selects accurate remedy in homeopathic material medica. Or we can say homeopathic physicians give maximum importance to mind because of its close relation with all other organs. Unless you seek complete review of the person as regards his mental and physical sphere, the homeopathic case taking is incomplete.

No wonder Dr Hahnemann rules out the possibility of external application in almost all skin diseases in homeopathy. As the skin disease in never external, use of external application may never serve its purpose. Even the skin infections occur due to innate inability of vital force to repel that infection. And therefore unless you free this vital force of the deranged internal forces, perfect cure will not be achieved and the skin infection will recur if you suppress it with temporary external application (even if homeopathic).

The person may have psoriasis, lichen planus, vitiligo, warts, eczema, skin ulcerations, or any other potentially serious lesion. Homeopathic constitutional therapy can help the patient find consistent relief without the need of any steroid application.

We can say that the real and unreal skin ailments as we described earlier are often overlapping. There might be signs but only the characteristic symptoms (subjective feeling) of the patient will guide to the accurate remedy and help you impart perfect cure!