my aunt has them and would like to know what to do for fading them and treating ....any suggestions? Dietary changes are necessary to get some of the metabolic wastes out of your system and cleanse your tissues. Some of these factors cause damage to your skin.
Begin a detoxification program to clean your tissues and organs.
Improve your diet to include fruits and vegetables, especially in raw form. Drink 8 eight ounce glasses of water daily.
Avoid sweets, caffeine, alcohol, tobacco, and junk foods.
Avoid rancid oils. Refrigerate all oils after opening; store nuts and seeds in the freezer or refrigerator; store grains in a cool place; avoid all fried foods as the hot cooking oils contain substances that damage the skin.
FOLK REMEDIES
ALOE VERA - Rub fresh aloe vera juice or gel on the spots. It will help fade them. Use the gel twice a day for a month or two. Juice from the aloe plant is excellent for healing burns and is also beneficial as a general healing agent.
APPLE CIDER VINEGAR - Combine two teaspoons of apple cider vinegar with one teaspoon of orange juice and apply to the spots, preferably on a cloth or cotton pad that is secured to the area.
BILBERRY - This herb slows some of the aging processes and acts as an antioxidant. Take 4-8 oz. of fresh berries or 80-160 mg of bilberry extract.
BUTTERMILK - Dab buttermilk on the spots. The lactic acid and other ingredients in the milk are beneficial to the skin. Buttermilk has been used for generations as a skin cleanser and as a beauty aid.
CASTOR OIL - Apply castor oil on the spots in the morning and in the evening, and rub well into the skin. The spots should disappear within a month.
CHICK PEAS - Take fresh or canned chick peas (garbanzo beans), mash about 1/3 cupful and add a little water. Smear this paste on the spots and leave it there until it dries. Then wash off completely. Do this every evening.
DANDELION - Break open a dandelion stem and rub the sap on the spots two or three times a day. This is good for warts, also.
GOTU KOLA - Try using the Chinese herb gotu kola. Mix 1/8 teaspoon of powdered herb into a cup of herbal tea or add it to plain hot water along with 1/8 teaspoon of ginseng and a pinch of cayenne. This remedy should clear the spots in a few days.
LEMON JUICE - Dab some fresh lemon juice on the spots twice daily. If you are going outdoors, wait for the juice to dry as it increases the skin's sensitivity to sunlight. It may take a few months, but the acidity in the juice will cause the spots to fade away.
ONION - Grate an onion and squeeze it through cheesecloth so that you have 1 teaspoonful of juice. Mix with 2 teaspoons of vinegar and rub this mixture into the spots. Do this two times a day until the spots disappear.
Or you can cut a fresh onion, dip it in apple cider vinegar and rub across the spots. This will fade the spots in a few weeks.
BLACK WALNUTS - Take some green (not fully ripe) black walnuts and make a few incisions in the outer shell, letting the juice squeeze through. Rub this juice on the spots. There may be a slight stinging sensation or the area may turn brown, but this is only temporary. This is a very effective remedy, however if irritation continues, do not use this method.
SUPPLEMENTS
BETA-CAROTENE - Antioxidant that slows the aging process.
BIOFLAVONOIDS - Working with Vitamin C, bioflavonoids assist in tissue repair.
POTASSIUM - A deficiency in potassium may be one of the causes of liver spots. Eat potassium-rich foods, like bananas, or take a supplement.
SELENIUM - In many areas of the country the selenium content of the soils has been depleted so that we don't get enough in our regular diet. A supplement for a few months could replenish your system.
VITAMIN C - An antioxidant, Vitamin C helps tissue repair.
VITAMIN E - Take one Vitamin E capsule (400 I.U.) daily; at night puncture another capsule and rub the oil on the spots and leave it on overnight. You may use castor oil at night instead. Vitamin E is an antioxidant that slows aging and aids in tissue repair.
ZINC - Another mineral supplement to take is zinc. Take 15 mg a day for one to two months. Don't take more than 15 mg without a doctor's supervision, as it may hinder the body's absorption of other minerals, especially copper. Great answer from the previous post. I totally agree with detoxification. A lot of what is going on inside shows up in the form of skin ailments on the outside. Rather than treating it on the outside we should focus on the internal problem. Listed below are two products that I would recommend based on my customer's successes. Try organic 100% pure Rosehip oil. It may take some time before you see any results, I don't expect your aunt is very young? I would definitely have to say MonaVie. It has 19 of the world's healthiest fruits combined into one drink. The main ingredients is the acai berry which has been hailed as the most powerful antioxidant known and also contains nature's richest source of phytonutrients (these are disease fighting nutrients in plants). Just two shots a day will give you your full serving of 5-7 fruits that you are suppossed to be getting but all too few Americans actually consume. I have been taking it for two weeks now and am feeling a greater sense of well being as well as more energy. I've actually been sleeping better too. If you are interested in holistic health this is definitely the way to go. It can also become a very successful home based business as well, which can supplement your income and help you move towards financial freedom. Come on!! Health and financial freedom....I don't know a healthier combination. Email me if you are interested at mdow1976@yahoo.com or visit my website at www.mymonavie.com/mikedow Pearl Cream has been used for thousands of years in China for ant-aging and repairing dry damaged skin. It is used for these age (liver) spots as well. You should be able to get it at your local acupuncture/chinese herbal practitioner. If not, you can search the web for a good brand. A good quality brand is at the bottom of this page:
http://www.holisticchineseherbs.com/spri... Many people would prefer natural remedies for age spots over harsher medical treatments involving acid peels or liquid nitrogen. It just makes sense - intuitively we know that age spots are the result of skin damage, and anything that does more skin damage isn't going to do us any good. Age spots, or liver spots, are the irregular, sometimes rough dark patches that appear on the skin, typically on the back of the hands and arms, and on the forehead, beginning in middle age. They are literally caused by too much exposure to the sun: ultraviolet rays of the sun stimulate the production of the skin pigment melanin and over the years distribution of the pigment tends to become irregular, causing patches and spots to appear. The areas of the body that receive the most sun are naturally the most susceptible to this type of skin damage.
Are there herbs for age spots? Actually, there are very few. In her book Herbal Remedies of the Lumbee Indians (Arvis Locklear Boughman, 2003), Loretta Oxendine reports that the Iroquois made a wash for liver spots from the impatiens plant, a popular annual garden flower that, ironically, does best in the shade. Oxendine does not give a recipe, however. The Chinese have natural remedies including herbs and other ingredients too exotic to gather ourselves - these are best obtained from an expert in Chinese medicine. In general, topical treatments for age spots are either acidic or bleaching, and natural remedies for age spots tend to be acidic fruit preparations.
So practical herbal remedies for age spots haven't really been developed, at least in the sense that most of us think of herbs, but natural plant based remedies certainly play a part. A healthy plant based diet is a good way to build healthy skin, and applying the juice of acidic fruits directly to the brown patches will fade them if repeated over a long period of time.
Lemon juice, cranberry juice and papaya have all been used to make washes for this purpose, and applying pieces of the fruit directly to the skin is also popular.
Commercial natural remedies for age spots often contain Vitamin A, a vitamin that has been shown to gradually fade the spots.
Vitamin C also shows promise as an antioxidant vitamin treatment for uneven skin pigmentation. Herbs for age spots would rarely contain high concentrations of these vitamins, so a purchased cream is more likely to give good results.
The best of the natural remedies for age spots is, of course, to protect your skin from the sun. Wearing a sunscreen with a minimum SFP (sun protection factor) of 15 or more whenever your skin will be exposed to the sun will arrest the development of more spots and prevent the ones you already have from getting even darker. If you don't take basic precautions, neither herbal remedies for age spots nor any other treatment is likely to help much. Remember though, that a lot of skin damage is done when we're young and not thinking about herbs for age spots or the day when our skin will start to look old. You have to be patient and persistent to reverse that damage. |
