22 Jul

Skin Diseases and Its Causes

Posted by admin in Uncategorized |

Author: Nammy Mike

The skin is the largest organ of the human body and protects it from environmental changes. It regulates the body temperature via sweating and helps in sensing the temperature of the outside world. It also protects the body from bacterial and viral attacks. The diseases related to the skin are called cutaneous or dermatologic disorders. Some universal diseases show symptoms on the skin like measles and rubella, but these diseases are not categorized as dermatologic disorders.

Types of Skin diseases
There are various types of skin diseases such as skin cancer, psoriasis, eczema, acne, sunburn, impetigo, scabies, warts, erythema infectiosum, ulcers, tinea, herpes and pruritis. The skin becomes red, swollen and burnt due to irritation and inflammation. Due to some allergies, irritants, genetic makeup and problems in the immune system, the skin can suffer from dermatitis and hives. Skin disorders are caused by absorption of irritants and so, one should wear proper skin protective clothes, like gloves, aprons and overalls.

Skin disease-Vitiligo
Vitiligo or Leukoderma is a skin disease that occurs due to loss of pigment and results in irregular pale skin patches.

Signs and symptoms
Vitiligo can be caused due to stress that affects the immune system and eliminates the skin pigment. The skin patches may shrink, grow or remain the same in size. The white patches spread on various body parts such as the limbs, torso, face and groin. With time, the vitiligo affected skin patches re-pigment and other skin areas become affected. If the disease infects the scalp then the color of the hair becomes white. Sometimes golden brown patches appear around the eyes, nostrils and mouth.

Psychological effects
Vitiligo has an important effect on the psychology of the patient. Sometimes, people with vitilig can feel depressed due to the changes in their appearance. In some cultures, people having vitiligo, are thought to be evil and demon possessed.

Treatment
In mild cases of vitiligo, the skin can be hidden using makeup or camouflage solutions. Dermatologists also prescribe corticosteroid cream for skin patches. The exposure of skin to long-wave ultraviolet rays from the sun is also beneficial for the patient. The application of immunomodulator creams like Protopic and Elidel helps in repigmentation of the skin when used with ultra violet ray treatment. The chemical depigmentation of skin through Monobenzone results in complete or partially complete depigmentation.

Skin care
Proper skin care keeps the skin healthy and decreases the probability of any skin diseases. With age, the number of blood vessels in the skin decreases, the oil glands become less active and this makes the skin fragile and wrinkled.

Ultraviolet rays also causes damage to the skin and can cause wrinkles, rough skin, liver spots and even cancerous skin tumors. The complete sun protection for the skin can be attained by avoiding the sun during high-intensity peak hours, by wearing protective clothing and by using sunscreen when outside. Smoking results in a narrowing of the blood vessels that further results in a decrease of blood flow and a supply of both oxygen and nutrients to the skin. This damages the elasticity and strength of the skin and increases wrinkles. Daily skin care should be done by cleansing the skin twice or thrice daily and then applying moisturizer to maintain natural skin moisture levels. These simple skin care habits keep the skin healthy and also prevents any skin disorders.

Source: articlesbase.com

2 Jul

Pain Relief Options: Natural and Medical

Posted by admin in Pain |

Author: Scott Baker

At some point in our lives, we will experience some sort of chronic pain that we positively hate and wish to go away. But as much as we seek pain relief immediately and despise the discomfort, the truth is that pain is useful to our survival as it alerts us to problems within our body. Pain also prevents a person from further injuring themselves and so it can be very useful. But, while useful, we all seek pain relief from time to time because-well, it hurts!

Oral Pain Relief

Now when most people think of pain relief, the first thing that comes to mind is aspirin or some other form of oral medication. In fact, we have been conditioned to believe that “you take something for the pain” and this usually involves a pill of some kind. For severe or chronic pain, opiates are most often prescribed. Morphine and heroine are two common opiates, and you will generally see cancer patients given these pain medicines as pain relief of last resort. Opiates are considered highly addictive and generally reserved for terminally ill patients.

Anti-depressants once were prescribed solely to treat depression and other mental illnesses. However, recent research has concluded that anti-depressants do relieve certain types of physical pain and are often used in pain relief applications to help a patient sleep.

Anti-seizure medications are prescribed to deal with sharp or acute pain caused by malfunctioning or damaged nerves. They most often deaden or numb the nerves themselves so pain signals do not reach the brain.

Less severe forms of oral pain relief generally come in the form of aspirin or ibuprofen. Ibuprofen are specifically designed to reduce inflammation and are therefore recommended for things like muscle aches while aspirin are more useful on headaches and fever reduction.

Pain Relief From Injections

One of the more severe but useful types of pain relief come in the form of injections. Cortisone treatments are common in athletes and involve an injection directly into the muscle or nerve causing the pain. This sort of pain relief is very effective, but it cannot be done on regular intervals due to tissue damage. Therefore, it is only recommended for temporary relief of acute pain.

Dentists also use this form of pain relief when they inject your mouth with Novocain-or, a local anesthetic. These injections will numb your nerves so that they are no longer sending signals to the brain. The inflammation or source of the pain will remain, but your body won’t feel anything until the local wears off.

Nerve Block Pain Relief

This type of pain relief is related to injections but deals with specific nerve blocks within the body. Called a ganglion or plexus, a nerve block will affect a group of nerves relating to a specific organ or part of the body. The doctor provides an injection of a specific nerve blocker in order to temporarily relieve pain to that organ or part of the body. It is different than a local anesthetic in that it has been specifically designed to affect one type of nerve so it is specialized pain relief and tends to be more expensive than standard cortisone shots or Novocain.

Physical Therapy as Pain Relief

Physical therapy is often viewed as a means to rebuild damaged muscles and nerves after a trauma. However, physical therapy is also used as a natural form of pain relief. Whirlpool therapy, deep muscle massage, and ultrasound are all forms of physical therapy used in natural pain relief treatments.

Electrical Stimulation Pain Relief

Known as TENS, Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation is an alternative to more traditional pain relief treatments. Without using any needles or medicine, pain is relieved when tiny electrical impulses are applied to the skin. The electrical current then stimulates nerve fibers in other parts of the skin and has the affect of relieving pain. The effects are only short term but TENS has proven itself as a legitimate means of pain relief and is a standard component of many physical therapy programs.

Acupuncture Pain Relief

While not widely recognized by the medical community as a legitimate form of pain relief, this Oriental treatment has been around for centuries and is considered by its adherents as a very effective pain management tool. Acupuncture specialists use lots of thin, small needles on various pressure points of the body. The pressure points in which a practitioner applies the needles will depend on the source of the pain. Although not a proven form of pain relief, acupuncture does remain one natural alternative to more traditional and accepted forms of pain management.

Surgery

In very severe cases and when other forms of pain relief have failed, surgery may be the last best chance to end chronic pain. In most cases, a surgeon will go in and actually severe nerve connections so that pain receptors in the brain no longer receive signals. Again, this is a method of last resort because as we stated earlier-pain can be useful and necessary to our survival. Doctors don’t like completely severing nerve endings as they will no longer be able to alert your body to problems-but when other forms of pain management fail, surgery may be the only viable alternative.

Topical Pain Relief

Finally, there are also topical ointments, creams, and liquids that can be directly applied to an affected area for temporary pain relief. Topical pain relief has the advantage of being quicker to reduce pain than oral medicines without being as invasive as the injections. While topical pain relief is not recommended for relief of chronic pain, it is highly effective with short term alleviation of minor aches and pains.

Pain relief is something we all must concern ourselves with from time to time. There are a wide array of medical and natural pain relief options available to you, and the one you choose will depend on the nature of the pain and your own comfort level with the treatment. For relief of minor, short-term pain, oral medication is most preferred, but topical pain relief options are growing in popularity and should be considered as a viable option in most cases.

For a topical and natural pain relief product, try ReliefMD to help manage and prevent any of your everyday aches and pains.

Source: articlesbase.com