What Can You Use to Treat Psoriasis Naturally?
Living with psoriasis isn’t easy. The skin condition causes not only physical discomfort but can be emotionally stressful as well. Since there isn’t a cure, treatments focus on managing symptoms, mainly with drugstore lotions, steroids, and prescription medications, all of which have been in circulation for decades without any true significant, long-term aid.
For years, the main options for treating psoriasis have been mineral oil-filled creams, but these can actually do more harm than good. So, what’s the best way to treat psoriasis naturally?
This is where manuka honey enters the picture!
Why Manuka Is Special
Manuka honey gets its name from the Manuka tree — or Leptospermum scoparium — which is native to New Zealand and Australia. While raw honey naturally contains small amounts of hydrogen peroxide, making it effective for treating infected wounds, Manuka honey has almost double the antibacterial potency of other kinds of honey! That’s because of a chemical reaction that occurs when bees process Manuka’s nectar, creating methylglyoxal, which has known antibacterial effects, making it much more effective as a skin treatment. Several studies have shown Manuka to significantly improve healing time and reduce infection in wounds, including ones that can occur from scratching and irritating psoriasis patches.
Also, how Manuka honey is special is from its demonstrated ability to fight infection with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). MRSA is a type of staph bacterial infection that’s become resistant to the antibiotics used to treat regular staph infections. The benefits of using manuka honey for various illnesses, burns, and even fighting gingivitis make manuka honey a goldmine for your body!
What Is Psoriasis?
You may wonder what psoriasis does when you break down the severity of it, and how manuka honey can be used to treat it. Psoriasis is an autoimmune disease that affects the skin cells. The exact cause is unknown, but experts have an idea of how the immune system works against the body to cause psoriasis. Certain white blood cells called T cells help the body protect itself against foreign substances that can cause infections, viruses, and diseases. When you have psoriasis, your T cells are too active. The cells not only attack harmful substances and organisms, but they also go after healthy skin cells.
Normally, skin cells go through a growth process that starts deep below the skin’s top layer and takes about a month for them to come to the surface. For people with psoriasis, this process can take only a few days. The result is patches of thick, red, scaly, itchy buildup. These patches can be painful and usually won’t go away without some type of treatment to stop the cycle.
Anyone can get psoriasis, but people with a family history of the disease are more likely to get it than those without family history. Psoriasis symptoms can happen in cycles, meaning they might go away for a certain amount of time or get worse. People can have many different triggers, including environmental and lifestyle ones. These can include stress, extreme weather changes, smoking, and skin injuries like a bad sunburn, cuts, or bug bites.
The treatment options for psoriasis have been around for decades and while progress to reduce the severity of it has been made, the real results you want to see come from treating it naturally versus prescription! And certainly when you add manuka honey into the mix!
Can Manuka Honey Defeat Psoriasis?
With its long history of medicinal uses, Manuka honey can be an effective natural treatment for psoriasis when used in high concentrations and as part of a regular regimen. Manuka honey’s natural anti-inflammatory abilities, on top of its healing and antibacterial properties, make it ideal for improving symptoms of psoriasis!
Psoriasis is a disease of inflammation, so if we can help the skin be less inflamed, it helps decrease the symptoms. You can apply Manuka honey to the skin like any other cream or lotion in its natural, raw state, but that can get sticky and messy. It also isn’t the most practical application for it. What is? Luckily, there are skin care lines that utilize the magic of manuka honey in lotions, moisturizers, and hair care!
At Wild Naturals, you’ll find a full skin care and hair care line for eczema and psoriasis starring manuka honey as one of its main ingredients. Tagging along with manuka honey as a natural treatment for psoriasis are coconut oil, shea butter, hemp seed oil, and cehami flower extract! All of these ingredients help to soothe, heal, and aid in reducing your psoriasis flares! Shop the online store today to start treating psoriasis the natural way!