The Signs of Stress on Skin

Stress on Skin

Urban people usually do not appreciate the relaxation because we often feel guilty for not being productive. People should know that feeling tension will accelerate the ongoing work throughout your system and produce conditions that can make young people develop symptoms typical of the elderly.

Most of us will deny being stressed, but your skin can’t lie. To check your stress level, check out the signs on your skin.

1. Dry skin
“Chronic stress increases the cortisol hormone levels that can damage the skin’s ability to retain water,” said Peter Elias, MD, a dermatologist from the University of California, United States. As a result, the skin will lose moisture and become dull.

2. Soft wrinkles
Cortisol, the stress hormones, also will increase blood sugar levels which can damage the collagen and elastin, the protein fiber that makes the skin supple and soft. Tension in the facial muscles due to stress can also create permanent wrinkles.

3. Redness
Improve blood circulation that occurs when we are under pressure to widen capillaries. Stress also trigger reddish hue called rosacea. And, because stress weakens the immune system, reddish tinge on the face will probably stay long enough.

4. Acne
Acne is a skin disorder characterized by the growth of small rash due to clogging of skin pores. Acne occurs when hair follicles in the skin becomes blocked. Stress also increases the inflammation that causes clogged hair follicles.

5. Eyestrain
Anxiety will produce a chain reaction; make it hard for eyes to close at night and causing swollen eyes, so the next day your face look bothered by the eyes that looked tired and haggard.

Facts Behind the Soft Human Skin

soft skin

The skin is the outermost organ of the human body which is flexible and soft. For the sake of the healthy skin, every day people clean, moisturize and protect skin, especially women. What are the facts behind the human skin?

As quoted from HowStuffWorks, by understanding the skin, we can help place them in a perspective of how the skin fills all the space in the body.

1. The skin protects the internal organs from external elements such as extreme temperatures, ultraviolet rays from the sun and harmful chemicals.

2. The skin also helps retain water, prevent infection and produce essential proteins and vitamins. To perform all the tasks, a large amounts of skin is required.

3. Adults have an average of about 8 pounds (3.6 kilograms) or approximately 22 square feet (6.7 square meters) of skin.

4. Not all skin can be seen by the eye. Human skin consists of three layers: the epidermis, dermis and fat layer under the skin, or hypodermis. And each layer has a different purpose.

Epidermis is the outer layer of skin that gives pigment-cells and produce new skin cells to replace cells that have died.

Dermis is the middle layer, is a place to feel pain and has touch receptors like blood vessels, hair follicles, collagen and elastin.

While subcutaneous layer consists of collagen and fat, which helps absorb shocks and protect the body and internal organs.

5. The skin is an organ which keeps on developing and constantly changes throughout our lives. Even humans shed about 40,000 skin cells per minute.

6. Skin experienced renewal every 35 days. This means that when a person aged 20 years, he has experienced skin turnover of 200 times.

What Do You Know about Tinea Capitis?

Fungal infections come in several types which can infect the scalp. One of these is the ringworm commonly referred to as Tinea capitis. Ringworm infection of the scalp is extremely common world wide. It is predominantly an infection of toddlers and young children. The infection is quite obvious because it presents with constant itching, redden scalp and patches of hair loss. Despite the alarming symptoms, ringworm of the scalp is not life threatening. The most difficult problem is the treatment. When it is not adequately treated, it can be easily transmitted to friends and family.

Symptoms

Most children who have a ring worm infection will have some symptoms, but on rare occasions they will not have any. Constant and intense itching around the scalp is the most obvious sign. Other features of the infection include loss of hair in circular patches. Often the skin is red and tender. The hair loss is quite significant. Even the hair that remains can be easily pulled out without any tension. In almost all cases, ringworm infections of the scalp tend to increase in size if it is not treated. A small patch will generally infect other areas of the scalp. Besides infection of other areas of the scalp, ringworms can easily be transmitted to others: person to person transmission is quite common. Other modes of transmission include sharing personal care items, bed linen pillows and combs. Sometimes pets acquire the infection and can transmit it to humans.

Risk factors

Ringworm is most common in children who attend day care and kindergarten. Outbreaks of ringworm infections are quite common in North America and difficult to control. Even inanimate objects like pencils, door handles, chairs and tables can transmit this fungus. The risk of ringworm infection is also increased if:

- one has poor hygiene

- lives in overcrowded conditions

- has problems with excessive sweating

- shares personal care items in a large family

Once a ringworm infection of the scalp is suspected, it is important to seek help from a health care professional. This fungus is quite hardy and is easily transmitted to others in the home.

Diagnosis

The diagnosis of tinea capitis is relatively simple. In most cases the dermatologist will be able to make a diagnosis based on the history and physical examination. If there is any doubt about the diagnosis, scrapings of the skin or hair can be examine underneath a microscope. In rare cases, the hair and skin are sent for culture.

Fungus of the scalp is not serious but can have social and health implications. If not treated, the fungus can causes a severe infection known as kerion. Kerion is basically collection of pus underneath the scalp. When the fungus has reached the stage of a kerion, most people are left with permanent hair loss and even scars.

Treatment

Once the diagnosis of tinea capitis is made, treatment of scalp infection includes a variety anti fungal medications. The most common medications are Griseofulvin and Terbinafine.

Griseofulvin is available as liquid and tablet whereas terbinafine is an oral capsule. These medications have to be taken for at least 4-6 weeks. Topical medications are not useful in the treatment of tinea capitis because they are not able to penetrate deep into the scalp and enter hair follicles. There is no shampoo or gel that is useful in the treatment of tinea capitis.

The medications work slowly and changes are gradual. In most cases, the pills must be taken for several weeks to notice a change in the condition of the scalp.

Prevention

Tinea capitis is best prevented, but prevention of this infection is quite difficult. The fungus is very easily transmitted. The majority of people acquire the fungus long before they have any symptoms. The only way to prevent the fungus is with the following approach:

Maintain decent hygiene. Clean or shampoos the scalp regularly. Regularly wash your hands and teach your children the same principles.

Do not share personal care items, especially in school or in any type of social gathering.

Teach your child to keep his/her personal locker/desk clean at school. After any outdoor activity, the clothes should be changed and personal items should not be shared.

Examine your child’s scalp every now and then so that you can identify the infection at an early stage.

If you have pets, examine them and if they appear sick, take them to a veterinarian. If your pet is sick, do not touch the pet with bare hands.

If you suspect that your pet or child has an infection, buy selenium sulfide shampoo and use it regularly. If the infection appears to be getting worse, go to your health care worker or veterinarian.

Useful Tips to Regrow Your Hair

Hair loss is commonly understood as losing the hairs from the head. Medically, the hair loss refers to the baldness or alopecia. This is losing the hairs from the scalp in abundant quantity. Generally, losing 50-100 hairs per day can be considered as a normal physiological procedure as all those hairs can be replaced with new growing hairs. Hair loss becomes significant when one starts losing more than that figure of hairs a day.

There are many reasons due to hair loss causes, hereditary, being number one. Other causes include certain drugs, hormonal changes, pregnancy, therapies (like chemotherapy), salty water (for bathing and for drinking), makeup and dandruff. Men are more suffering from hair loss as compared to females. Baldness will be in men and not in female due to genetic reasons.

Home remedies for hair loss

• The Indian gooseberry has been showing great results treating hair loss. For this, oil containing Indian gooseberry will be great to use.

• Lettuce is another great home remedy for treating hair loss. A mixture of lettuce and spinach juice is considered to help the growth of hair if taken up to ½ liter a day.

• Another great home remedy for hair loss is Amaranth. Its fresh leaves juice should be applied to the hair and this can help growing new hairs.

• An application of coconut milk over the scalp will be helpful treating hair loss. You can take coconut milk and then massage it into the hair roots. It nourishes the hair and promotes the hair growth.

• The most valuable home remedy for hair loss is using seeds of lime and black pepper. Ground it together and then make it into fine paste. Use this paste as an application on the patches. This might irritate but simultaneously it stimulates the hair growth and promotes the hair follicles to grow firm hairs.
• The leaves of the tree margosa will be useful treating hair loss. It should be used as a decoction. This will stop hair from falling and will stabilize them into their roots. It also kills the hair lice.

• Another useful home remedy for hair loss is using the paste of liquorice. It can be made by grinding the liquorice pieces in the milk with a pinch of saffron. The paste should be applied over the bald patches at night before retiring to the bed. This works wonderfully for treating alopecia condition.

• Onions have also been found beneficial patchy baldness along with hair falling condition. The affected part must be rubbed with onions in the morning and evening. The juice of onion is stimulant to the hair follicles and hence will prevent falling too.

• A fine paste made form pigeon pea or red gram is also considered as good home remedy for hair falling. Use this for longer period for maximum benefit.

• One of the proven hair loss home remedy for hair loss is rubbing olive oil onto the scalp and affected area.

Natural Remedies to Cure Boils

First off all i would like to give you a brief explanation about what is a boil. It is another name used to describe a boil is a skin abscess, but basically it’s just an infection deep in the skin. I like to describe a boil as being a really big zit because that’s what it looks like. Below are several different types of boils:

Cystic acne—An abscess that forms when the oil ducts become infected or clogged. This type of boil is found mostly on the face and primarily effects teenagers.

Furuncle or carbuncle
—An abscess of the skin caused by Staphylococcus aureus. This type of boil may cause a fever or chills.

Pilonidal cyst—This abscess is usually found in the crease of the buttocks. People who sit a lot or travel over long distances, like a truck driver, are more prone to getting this kind of boil.

Hidradenitis suppurativa—This is when you have multiple boils that form in the arm pits and groin area and are associated with the sweat glands.

Why do we get boils? The most common cause is believed to be clogged sweat glands or hair follicles that become infected. It is also possible for a scratch or any other break in the skin to become infected and turn into a boil. Believe it or not, an ingrown hair can cause a boil. People with compromised or suppressed immune systems are more likely to get boils. That includes people with diabetes. Medications can also suppress the immune system—especially cortisone, prednisone, prednisolone and medications used by cancer patients.

How to cure boils naturally? If you have been searching the Internet for information on how to cure boils, you probably found that most Websites recommend that you go to your doctor and be put on antibiotics. I think that’s a bit radical when most boils can be effectively cured at home. If, however, after you have tried to cure the boil yourself, but it doesn’t work, then go to your doctor immediately. Below are three natural cures you can try:

Turmeric—Turmeric taken internally can help dissolve and heal boils in as little as three days. It has anti-inflammatory and blood purifying effects on the body. Just take one teaspoon of turmeric powder in warm water three times a day or buy turmeric in capsule form and take at least 450 mg each day. You can also make a paste out of the turmeric powder and place it directly on the boil and cover it with gauze. Be careful as turmeric can stain your skin and your clothes. The stain on your skin will go away in about two weeks.

Tea Tree Oil
—Tea tree oil is a natural antiseptic that is able to help in the healing of all kinds of skin problems. All you have to do is apply one drop of tea tree oil directly on the boil each morning after bathing until it’s gone.

Castor Oil—Put some Castor oil on a cotton ball and place it on the boil. You will need to secure it with gauze or a band-aid. Castor oil will draw the poison right out of the boil and can heal it in as little as two days.

There are other remedies that I did not mention as I felt the three above were the best. Some other remedies are iodine, a paste made out of baking soda or you can take an Epsom salts bath.

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