The skin as a mirror (complexion)

If the dryness goes beyond the season, two values are worthwhile: the thyroid and the iron store. Both can be treated.

Pallor, yellowing, blue lips, pinpoint bleeding and poor wound healing are genuine signs. The complexion itself, the pores or a tired look, on the other hand, say little about the inner organs.

Most telling are the inside of the lower lid and the palms. Pale together with tiredness and breathlessness means: measure haemoglobin and ferritin.

Yellow eyes and skin point to liver or bile, blue lips to oxygen, small red dots that do not fade under pressure to the platelets. All three belong looked at quickly.

Sleep, sun protection, stopping smoking and enough protein and fluid — in that order. Unspectacular, and it works better than any course of treatment.

New, growing, many-coloured, irregularly bordered or bleeding — that belongs looked at independently of the overall impression of the skin, and soon.

A winding, itchy track on the foot or buttock that advances a few millimetres a day is unmistakable — and settled with a single tablet.

The outer skin renews itself in about twenty-eight days — so a change in care or food shows at the earliest after four weeks and can be judged at eight to twelve. A spot takes about two to three weeks from the first blocked pore to visible inflammation; what is seen today is therefore not what was eaten yesterday. A reddened area after inflammation needs three to six months for the colour to fade.

Pale → check iron; yellow skin/eyes → liver/bile; very dry → consider thyroid.

Sudden bluish lips/fingers with breathlessness is an emergency — call your local number.

Under-eye circles, cheeks red after exercise, pale winter complexion and brief cold-blue lips are almost always harmless.

Signs like paleness or yellowing read best on inner eyelids, gums, palms and the whites of the eyes — there independent of natural skin tone.

Useful with pale skin.

With yellowing, the liver/bile value.

With very dry skin plus fatigue/feeling cold.

Behind pale skin often the iron store.

Enough drinking keeps skin supple and complexion fresh.

For skin and general wellbeing; often low in winter.

For acne, 30–50 mg elemental zinc a day over 8–12 weeks has been studied; the effect is smaller than with antibiotics, but measurable. Above 40 mg a day long term it disturbs copper uptake.

1–2 g EPA+DHA a day over 10–12 weeks showed less inflammatory acne in small studies. For complexion in general there is no such measure.

With a real deficiency skin and nails improve, otherwise not. Another point matters more: from 5 mg a day biotin distorts lab values — thyroid, troponin, hormones. Leave it out 2–3 days before a blood draw.

Clearly effective with proven deficiency, useless without. Take only with a documented deficiency — excess is harmful.

Clearly worthwhile and well studied when deficient; fewer data for the wider uses. Fat-soluble — check blood levels at high doses.

The sebaceous gland does not react to testosterone itself but to the DHT formed from it. This is why skin can be oily although the testosterone value in the blood is normal — the local sensitivity decides.

Insulin and IGF-1 stimulate the sebaceous glands. That is the connection behind the observation that milk and heavily sugared food go with more acne in some people — the studies show a link, not a proof.

Sustained stress measurably delays repair of the skin barrier — wounds close more slowly, and the complexion turns dull. The effect is small, but it is measured.

Vitamin-C- and water-rich food supports skin and iron uptake.