Holistic Dermatology and Integrative Medicine

Speaking about Holistic Dermatology in India

It is the beginning of the New Year, so I want to wish the best to all of you and to our world.

I would like to share some very exciting news with you. I was invited to go to India to be a featured speaker for an International Symposium on Integrative and Holistic Dermatology. To my knowledge, this was the first Symposium on Holistic and Integrative Dermatology sponsored by an academic Dermatology department, ever on the planet. On December 4, I gave three lectures on various aspects of holistic dermatology, and participated in a panel wrapping up the session at the Dermatology Department of Kasturba Medical College in Manipal University in Manipal, located in South West India. It was quite an experience to be honored by having the opportunity to teach about the approach to treating skin disease, and to do so to eager listeners halfway around the world. I have already heard from Dr. Shenoi, the head of the department, that what I presented was well received, and has given rise to new ways to treat difficult cases at the hospital there. In addition, my listeners were awakened to the neglected aspect of nutrition in Dermatology.

My knowledge was also enhanced by hearing the two other speakers, one of whom I had met when she was just entering this field of study.
I had a chance in Manipal to see the Ayurvedic department and the Yoga department at the medical center, which represents an integration of traditional care with conventional medical care that is rare in India as it is throughout the world. We spent a morning at a naturopathic hospital, which focused on diet and physical modalities for healing. Cleansing diet, simplicity, spirituality, and beauty of the surroundings, and yoga, were mainstays of the healing program there beyond the diet and other cleansing processes.

One of the other Integrative Dermatology speakers, Dr. S. I. Narahari, was having anopening of his new clinic for Applied Dermatology, and invited me to participate in the dedication and speak at his 5th annual National symposium. The physicians from all over India, honored mentor dermatologist Dr. Terrence Ryan from England,the press, and many people from the local government were present. More than 15 patients with elephantiasis were presented to a group of over 25 dermatologists and other physicians. Between presentations, I was asked by Dr. Narahari and a government minister to help design studies on nutrition and skin disease as, it relates to rural India. I am excited about being able to help those who might otherwise not receive care, and about extending studies in nutritional dermatology that can have a more widespread benefit.

To recover from jet lag on arriving in India, I spent the first 4 days in an Ayurvedic Spa, where I experienced the famous medicinal oil massages and hot herbal applications. We were treated to a visit to the associated third-generation manufacturing plant, which used age-old processes to manufacture Ayurvedic remedies. It has taken time for me to recover from the travels during flu season, so I finally writing to you now.

What has been most amazing to me are the similarities between several thousand-year old Ayurvedic concepts and what I am now doing, incorporating what is now being called functional medicine into my practice of dermatology. This will be thesubject of some of my letters and blogs in the future.

Food Allergy and Eczema

According to an article published online ahead of print Oct 26 in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, there was a significantly increased incidence of both food sensitization and filaggrin mutations in children who went on to developeczema and asthma. A filiggrin is a protein related to penetration of foreign materials through the skin that has been found to be defective in a proportion of patients with atopic dermatitis, commonly known as eczema. The risk of being allergic to foods was up to 5 times as great in association with eczema as compared with those who did not have eczema.

Here's what I have to say about this: despite the naysayers over the years who have claimed that eczema is not related to diet, this study from Germany shows an association between food allergy and eczema and asthma. I want to emphasize that in my experience, it takes more than food sensitivity testing and elimination to control food allergy manifestations. Working with digestion, gut flora, and gut health, helps to reduce food allergy, and has proven to be helpful in reducing the incidence and severity of atopic dermatitis in infants, children and adults, as well as the severity of other inflammatory skin diseases. Especially sensible is in normalizing these factors before starting pregnancy, if this planning is possible, and there is a history of atopy (asthma, hay fever, eczema) in you or your family. More about this important issue in a later blog.

To your health,

Dr. Alan M. Dattner
Holistic Dermatology
New York, New York

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As always, the content of this blog is for information and education purposes only, and should not be used to prevent, diagnose or treat illness; please see your physician for care.

Herbal Medicine and Dermatology article in New York Times

I was just browsing the internet to collect articles I've written, and came across this one in the New York Times. Here, I discuss camomile, plantain, aloe vera, lemon balm, and cayenne for dermatitis, psoriasis, herpes, and other conditions.  Please read the full article for specifics. 

To your health,

Alan M Dattner, MD
Holistic Dermatology, New York

Featured on The Kathleen Show

It gives me pleasure to announce that I will be featured in a radio interview on the topic of nutrition and the skin on the Kathleen Show, which will be aired in a handful of selected cities throughout the US on different days, from Thursday, Feb 25 through Sunday, February 28, 2010.

Please see the link below for city, time and station, and let your friends and relatives in those cities know about the show if it is not near you. The program airs in Philadelphia PA, (Thursday) Madison WI, Providence RI, Reading PA, Fairbanks Alaska, Astoria Oregon, Grand Junction CO, Eureka CA and Minneapolis/St. Paul MN.

http://www.thekathleenshow.com/About/Stations/tabid/98/Default.aspx

I feel honored to follow such notables as Dr Andrew Weil, legendary Maya Angelou, women’s health pioneer Dr. Christiane Northrup, Dr. Michael Roizen, best-selling author of the YOU series co-authored by Dr. Mehmet Oz, as well as award-winning journalist and author Michael Pollan, as guests on Kathleen’s radio show. This link will allow you to hear the show when it gets posted as a webcast available to hear online in a few more weeks. I believe that you will find the interview both enjoyable and informative, packed with tips on how to better care for your skin naturally. Be sure to not only enjoy it yourselves, but to pass on the link to share it with others who will benefit from the free and useful advice Kathleen gleans from me. http://www.thekathleenshow.com/Listen/tabid/56/Default.aspx

I will post a link to my guest page from the show in a week or two, when my interview will be available for download.

To your health,

Dr. Alan M. Dattner
Holistic Dermatology
New York, New York

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As always, the content of this blog is for information and education purposes only, and should not be used to prevent, diagnose or treat illness; please see your physician for care.

Treating Food Allergy: Holiday Party Food...

Treating food allergy, Candida overgrowth and sensitivity, and leaky gut, has been a cornerstone of my holistic dermatology practice. I’m sure that there are a lot of my patients out there who struggled with those diets, who will chuckle to hear that I recently got a “dose of my own medicine”. I want to share my experience in a short series of ongoing emails and blogs, in hope of inspiring others to make progress, and tell their own stories of success.

A few years ago, my own doctor heard about my own digestive issues, ordered some tests, and found our that I had antibodies in my blood diagnostic of a gluten sensitivity. Since that time, I have been on a fairly strict gluten-free diet, never eating wheat, barley oats or rye, but perhaps getting small amounts of gluten from Chinese restaurant soy sauce, hidden flour, or a crumb here or there that sticks to the bottom of an occasional desert. I have been well, except for a slightly active digestive system at times, and a little arthritis in two finger joints.

Recently, a repeat food test for allergy was done in thanks for giving blood to use to evaluate new testing methods for wheat sensitivity, by a lab that tested me before. The list had enlarged considerably from the first test, taking away some 50 of my favorite foods. Still reasonably cheerful, I went to the produce store in New Rochelle and bought the vegetables and foods which were still permitted on my list, and found out that I could put together some delicious but simple meals. I also found out that I could use what was allowed to make some really tasty snacks with allowed ingredients I had never put together in those ways before. I used orange juice instead of lemon, ginger where I would have used garlic, and sesame paste to make my salad dressing.

The problem came with going to a big celebration, and then ordering food the next day. I did not notice any immediate change from all of the foods I ate out, but did get very tired after eating food with my problem soy sauce. The day after, I ate one piece of the dish, permitted by my food test (but interestingly, not by my tribe), and immediately felt a kind of heaviness and faint fogginess overtake my head. When I bothered to check my chart, two out of three of the vegetables were not permitted, along with the soy sauce (which has traces of wheat and possibly corn starch to thicken it). So much for easy ordering and eating. I will have to prepare food from scratch.

Tune in next week to see how Dr D deals with his own medicine.

To your health,

Dr. Alan M. Dattner
Holistic Dermatology
New York, New York

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As always, the content of this blog is for information and education purposes only, and should not be used to prevent, diagnose or treat illness; please see your physician for care.

Holistic Dermatology at the AAD?

I just returned from the American Academy of Dermatology meeting with lots of new information from the host of sessions I attended. I will present a series of blogs from my experience at this meeting in the upcoming months.  On the exhibit hall floor, many products from skin care companies appeared for the first time.  Products which I have been using in my alternative medicine practice for the past 15 to 20 years.  What an affirming surprise to find how far ahead of the curve I have been, and to see that methods I have been practicing are finally catching on.

One product, which appeared in various forms, was homeopathic Arnica for post operative healing and pain prevention.  In some cases it was sold with or combined with the enzyme bromelain.   I was reassured to see that I had been using this at least 20 years ago, that my correct insights had been confirmed.

Sadly, Still Using Only the Western Model

Unfortunately, although products I have used are appearing, the philosophy and understanding with which I employ these seems to be sorely lacking.  Probiotics (healthy bacteria, like acidophilus) were both praised and questioned for use in treating atopic dermatitis.  Despite multiple positive studies, skeptics mentioned one study in which children's dermatitis actually did worse with probiotics.  But no consideration was given in the study regarding which diets corresponded to counteracting yeast and helping the probiotics work better.  Now that alternative medicine supplements are being accepted into traditional medicine, researchers are creating studies on them, but are treating these supplements in the same way they treat pharmaceuticals.  So the idea of having a magic pill that cures everything still seems to float above the concept of treating the whole person, which is what I continue to do and promote as a holistic dermatologist.

To your health,

Alan M Dattner, MD

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As always, the content of this blog is for information and education purposes only, and should not be used to prevent, diagnose or treat illness; please see your physician for care.

The Value of Eliminating Allergic Foods

I recently read an article in the Science Section of the New York Times by Tara Parker-Pope entitled “Telling food allergies from false alarms”.  The article focuses on the efficacy of food allergy antibody tests (only one of many kinds of allergy tests there are.)  It suggests that people avoiding a number of foods face malnutrition and inconvenience. 

The article overlooks the great value in helping patients eliminate foods which trigger a wide variety of conditions, most of which have an inflammatory etiology.  Any blood test, be it of antibody reactivity, neutrophil change, or lymphocyte response, may be helpful to point out foods to test for potential clinical improvement by elimination and challenge.  I have seen numerous conditions including acne, eczema, irritable bowel, hidradenitis, migraines, and fatigue improve with food elimination.  A physician experienced in multiple forms of food testing can help associate symptoms with exposures, choose appropriate tests, and interpret results.

One things I do agree on is that allergy tests can give a wide variety of food and allergen sensitivities which may or may not indicate the cause of a patient's presenting condition.  The absolute best way to learn what foods are causing skin or any other problems is to eliminate all possible trigger foods, check to see if the problem clears, and then every few days, add a food back to the diet to find out which is the culprit.  The value of trials of food elimination to improve disease should not be overlooked for lack of definitive testing in major centers.

To your health,

Alan M Dattner, MD

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As always, the content of this blog is for information and education purposes only, and should not be used to prevent, diagnose or treat illness; please see your physician for care.

Toxic Waste!

If you saw the movie The Incredible Shrinking Woman back in 1981, you'd have a comical view of how toxic chemicals might be affecting us.  In the film, Lily Tomlin begins to shrink uncontrollably after being exposed to the wrong mix of chemicals in her home.  While this is an absurd and comical exaggeration, many chemicals do have mysterious and potentially toxic effects on the body.  In fact, a large portion of the people who come to my holistic dermatology practice find their skin disease is somehow related to environmental toxins or allergens the body has come in contact with. 

Toxins can be spread through the air and into the lungs, as side-stream smoke or factory pollution.  They can come in the water, from plastic water bottles or leakage from factories into aquifers, or acid rain.  They can come from the food we eat, in the form of pesticides, additive food colorings, flavorings, preservatives, or rancid oils.  And they can come through the skin, from cosmetics, soaps, dish detergent, clothing dyes, etc. 

Please do not take this information as an argument that you should fear your environment.  Humans are an adaptable race and will continue to live on regardless of toxins.  But some of us will find our bodies have a harder time filtering out the increased toxins and allergens in our environment.  If an unexplained or un-treatable disease is affecting you, you can begin to arm yourself with detailed information about the chemicals you are exposed to in your daily life.  Then, you have the opportunity to heal your condition.  In the next blog, I'll outline some alternatives to hazardous cleaning products.

To your health,

-Dr. Dattner

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As always, the content of this blog is for information and education purposes only, and should not be used to diagnose, or treat illness; please see your physician for care.

The Earth's Skin

We have an opportunity, to champion the health of the skin of the planet on which we live. The health of that layer affects all life on Earth, and subsequently the health of humans.      

Many parallels can be drawn between the health of our environmental "skin" and the skin of the individual.  By drawing on these parallels, we can make it easier to have a clear overview of environmental issues that affect the health of the human body and the skin in particular.    

For example, we can look at how a "chemical burn" to the Ozone layer of the earth results in more danger of a sunburn to various layers of the skin. Exploring the causes of the "chemical burn" and the different ways to prevent it, educating ourselves and the public, and engaging everyone in finding a win-win solution to the problem makes this into an exciting game.

The goal is to improve health and well-being by improving conditions in the surface of the earth in which we live.

To our health,

-Dr. Dattner

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As always, the content of this blog is for information and education purposes only, and should not be used to diagnose or treat illness; please see your physician for care.

Time for an Oil Change?

The oil in the body is not so different from the oil in a car.  Feed the car the wrong kind of oil, and the engine pings, sputters, and stalls.  Feed the body the wrong kind of oil, and the mind finds it difficult to focus, the skin becomes oily and breaks out, the hair becomes flaky with dandruff.  But which oil is best?  The kind that is fluid at room temperature and is rich in Omega 3's and 6's.

Oils to avoid (because they clog the pores, the enzymes [the body’s biochemical machinery] and other moving parts):

• Trans-saturated fats
• hydrogenated or partially-hydrogenated oils
• lard
• margarine
• too much butter
• oils that have been cooked or heated to  very high temperatures (fried foods)

Oils to enjoy (fresh, organic, cold-pressed oil is best):

• olive oil (best for all around and light cooking)
• flaxseed oil (not good for cooking)
• fish oil (as a food supplement)
• evening primrose oil (as a food supplement)
• anti-oxidants such as vitamin E, are taken to protect "unsaturated" oils like those listed above.      
• oils rich in saturated fats, like coconut oil, may be best for cooking, however high temperature cooking is always risky. Heat causes chemical changes in the oils which may be harmful, and promote aging.

If you are avoiding dairy, there are natural vegetable oil products available that offer a good alternative to butter.  As always, taking the holistic dermatology approach means enjoying fresh, natural foods that nourish the mind, body, and spirit.

To your health,

Dr. Dattner

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As always, the content of this blog is for information and education purposes only, and should not be used to diagnose, or treat illness; please see your physician for care.