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Skin care should not be tied to beauty only. It should be viewed as a health practice. The skin is a very important tissue that envelops and protects your body. If not attended to, irritating conditions may arise such as dryness, peeling, itch, pimples, mouth sores, and small eruptions, etc., which may develop into bigger problems like rashes lasting for months or even years. If the skin is well taken care of, the hair and the nails will be as well for they are real extensions of the skin.

The Chinese approach connects skin problems to "excess heat" in the blood, which means several things including:

Too much spicy, barbecued, deep fried, or greasy food.

Too much shellfish such as crabs, clams, mussels, oysters, etc.

Not enough sleep, or going to bed too late.

Not enough rest causing an overactive liver.

Toxins in blood due to unhealthy eating or environment.

Not enough fluid consumed everyday.

Not eating the right kind of food such as vegetables and fruits to nourish or moisturize the skin.

If you come from a different culture, some of the causes mentioned above do not seem to have obvious reasons. I'll try to explain more in a later article. Nevertheless, those reasons are validated everyday by observing the habits of those suffering from dry skin and associated problems.

Nature of skin problems:

Skin problems may not be limited to just one location. They can move to other parts of the body since they are related to blood.

Minor problems are easier to treat with diet or habit change.

When a major skin problem has developed, it will remain a long-term irritation with periodic flare-ups triggered by the above-listed causes.

You cannot expect fast cure from a major skin problem. You can only look for steady improvements in the form of intensity, duration, and frequency of flare-ups.

If the problem does not spread to a new location, and the old location is being replaced by newer skin, it will definitely be a good improvement.

External treatment:

Skin care is a multi-billion dollar business with countless products and services for external treatment.

Surgery and other advanced treatments are becoming popular too.

You have to find the right kind of product or service suitable for your skin.

Internal treatment:

The Chinese approach, basically, is to nourish and detoxify the blood, calm the liver, moisturize and nourish the skin:

1) Nourish blood

Dan Shen

He Shou Wu

2) Detoxify blood

Xian He Cao

Bai Hua She Cao

3) Calm liver

Bai Shao

Jin Yin Hua

Huang Qin

4) Moisturize skin

Mai Men Dong

Xuan Shen

5) Nourish skin

Yu Zhu

Sha Shen

A combination of 11 herbs is recommended.

Drink one cup (8 oz) of herb tea a day.

This is just one formula with countless variations depending on:

* How bad is the skin problem and where.

* Do you make an effort for diet or habit change.

* How sensitive is your body to herb package.

For further information, go to http://www.herbsandtea.com Herb packages or capsules can be tailor-made to suit your needs.

A video presentation is given on http://www.youtube.com Search "askjohnfung" to see different topics being discussed.

John Fung is a practicing Chinese herbalist in San Jose, California, specializing in cancer recovery, allergy, anxiety, fertility, digestive disorder, skin problems, and other non-emergency conditions.