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Skin inflammations in Ayurveda

  • Alakananda Ma
    Alakananda Ma

    Alakananda is a co-founder, spiritual mother, teacher, Ayurvedic practitioner, flower essence maker and storyteller.

    Alakananda is an accomplished writer with many published articles and is highly respected and well known in the Ayurveda community as a renowned senior Ayurveda practitioner, both nationally and internationally. She is a member of the board of directors of NAMA (National Ayurvedic Medical Association).

    She has been a keynote presenter and popular speaker both at NAMA conferences and at the Swastha International Ayurvedic conference in London.

  • 10:39 reading time (ish)
  • Ayurvedic Herbal Medicine Cleansing & Metabolising Digestion & Nutrition Immunity

Written by Alakananda Ma

Skin inflammations are becoming increasingly common, with atopic dermatitis or eczema affecting 10–20% of all children and 1–3% of adults and psoriasis affecting between 2 and 2.6% of the US population.

The prevalence of atopic dermatitis prevalence has doubled or tripled in industrialized countries during the past three decades. The visible and often disfiguring nature of skin inflammations leads to far greater levels of distress and depression than would be experienced with a more severe but less disfiguring condition. Because a number of patients are suspicious of cortisone creams prescribed for them by their family practitioner or dermatologist, they may frequently present for Ayurvedic care as an alternative.

Skin and Ayurveda

According to Ayurveda, skin has seven layers, corresponding to the seven dhatus. Similarly, in modern physiology, skin has been found to have seven layers, stratum corneum, on the surface, stratum lucidum, stratum granulosum, stratum spinosum, stratum basale, the basement membrane and the dermis. (See diagram of the seven layers of the skin.) At the same time, the epidermis of the skin, as whole, is seen as an secondary (upadhatu) of plasma tissue (rasa dhatu)and the dermis as part of muscle tissue (mamsa dhatu). Skin belongs to bahya marga, the external pathway of disease, and as such is very vulnerable to toxins carried by plasma rasa) and blood (rakta dhatus) during the spreading (prasara) stage of disease, accounting for the relatively common nature of skin inflammations. 

Alakananda Ma

Alakananda is a co-founder, spiritual mother, teacher, Ayurvedic practitioner, flower essence maker and storyteller. Alakananda is an accomplished writer with many published articles and is highly... Read more

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