You’ve heard it – “If you want healthy skin you need to be healthy on the inside.” And you’ve seen it – Have you ever tried to “look healthy” when you feel sick?  Not an easy thing to accomplish.

The skin is our largest organ, but because it’s hanging on the outside we tend to forget that.  The health of the skin is said to reflect the health of the colon or digestive tract.  Having practiced for almost 25 years, I can attest to that being the truth.  From acne to eczema, from psoriasis to dermatitis herpetiformis (DH), I have not yet met a patient with a skin problem that had a healthy intestine.

• Dermatitis herpetiformis (DH): A severe skin rash presenting in an estimated 25% of all patients with celiac, dermatitis herpetiformis proves the point in that is has been well established that the only worthwhile and effective treatment for this unsightly skin condition is a strict gluten-free diet. Some medications exist but they have not proved beneficial above a gluten-free diet.

• Dry Skin and Acne: Some conditions such as dry skin and acne are thought to evolve from certain vitamin deficiencies as well as fatty acid insufficiencies.  These specific nutrients are often seen to be deficient in gluten sensitive individuals as a byproduct of malabsorption due to the intestinal damage caused by gluten.

• Eczema and Psoriasis: Believed to fall into the inflammatory and immune-type reactions, eczema and psoriasis are often associated with gluten sensitivity.  Gluten causes inflammation in the intestinal tract, creating damage and “leakiness”. The resultant “leaky gut” allows partially digested gluten molecules to leave the intestine where the bloodstream’s immune system “marks” them as foreign invaders and attacks them.  Due to molecular mimicry whereby other proteins in the body look very similar to gluten, the immune system now attacks self-tissue (you) creating such problems as eczema and psoriasis, not to mention a host of other auto-immune diseases.

Adults are not the only ones to suffer.  In a study, children with gluten sensitivity demonstrated skin problems such as dry skin, eczema, psoriasis and DH 69% of the time.

Treating skin conditions as you would a piece of furniture–by putting something topical on it and when that wears off, adding some more–is short sighted. Plus, many of the crèmes being applied are dangerous steroids that are absorbed into the body, creating downstream negative effects.

Masking the symptom with a medication is a prevalent form of treatment in our healthcare system, but nowhere is it seen more than with skin conditions. If we only appreciated that the skin was a window into the health of our intestinal tract (often referred to as the second brain because it is second in importance only to our brain) we wouldn’t be so quick to mask it with temporary medications.

Is gluten sensitivity the only cause of skin problems? No, but if you have chronic skin issues it’s definitely worth ruling out.  For while no one enjoys dry, itchy, unsightly skin, understanding that such symptoms belie an unhealthy intestine, should definitely be something that we take seriously.