Case of Severe Facial Dermatitis

She came to the United States and was fostered for a time and ultimately adopted into that same home. Her new owner was familiar with allergic disease in cats and knew how tricky they can be and didn’t trust that if she was adopted out elsewhere that someone wouldn’t try to return her or have her euthanized.

For her first month in the U.S. she did well, until the allergy shot she received before leaving Kuwait wore off. After a few treatments from the family veterinarian including steroids and Atopica she was referred to a dermatologist but unfortunately continued to struggle despite everything else that was attempted. As a last resort her owner decided to pursue a non-traditional approach and reached out to me for treatment with homeopathy.

After taking a thorough case to discover what was unique about Faruha and her condition, I prescribed a remedy that best covered the totality of her case. Early responses to the remedy supported that it was a good fit for her and it continues to be a good remedy for her several months into treatment.

There are a few features of her case that I’d like to focus on which illustrate a good homeopathic response to the remedy.

Homeopathic aggravation

The first thing I would like to highlight is the phenomenon of homeopathic aggravation. In chronic cases, when the patient receives a remedy with high degree of similarity to their symptom picture, it is very common to have a transient aggravation or worsening of their current symptoms. It is not apparent in every case, but it is a very common finding and one that we should not be surprised to observe. This aggravation is usually fairly short-lived and if it is an aggravation of their current symptoms it should be followed by eventual improvement in these symptoms from baseline. This was the case for Faruha. Within a couple days of her first dose she had an increase in itching and even in skin lesions, but by day three or four after the remedy, her itch was already decreasing and she was feeling more comfortable than before treatment.

While it is unpleasant to experience a worsening of symptoms, being aware of this principle will help us have patience and encouragement to know that healing is beginning to take place and the body is responding to the medicine.

If an aggravation is deemed to be too intense, changes can be made with dosing such as decreasing the potency or giving a smaller volume. This can help to reduce the intensity of future aggravations. While aggravation is common, it should be our goal to minimize it as much as possible by finding the potency that is best suited to the patient and stimulate healing in the most gentle fashion.

General signs of improved well being

A second feature of Faruha’s case that helped confirm the prescription was that she showed general signs of improved well being. Within the first two days, her energy improved and by day four her appetite was better than it had been in weeks and she also began grooming more thoroughly. This is a common experience with a good remedy and one that often supports that we are on the right track as we are waiting for symptoms to improve.

Patience

Another aspect of Faruha’s case that cannot be overemphasized is that much patience is required for homeopathic healing of chronic disease. While acute conditions often resolve remarkably fast under homeopathic treatment, chronic, longstanding conditions generally take much longer to fully resolve. Every case is different, with some healing much faster and some slower for a variety of reasons. From a conventional point of view skin issues are only a problem with the skin, but with a homeopathic understanding the totality of the patient must always be considered and one part of the body is not separate from the whole. Skin disease isn’t merely skin disease but represents a deeper imbalance, and if we desire to see genuine and lasting healing take place we must treat the patient from the inside out. It is this deep-level healing that takes time in chronic cases, but with proper treatment and patience the results in the end will be far superior than perpetually attempting to suppress the symptoms by treating at a superficial level and not supporting the true healing process.

When we use suppressive medicines to treat the skin, we are using a bandaid at best, and at worst causing much more serious disease than the original problem. It is the common experience of people who treat with anti-inflammatory and immune suppressive medicines, that as the months and years go by, stronger and stronger doses are needed to help manage the itch, but the illness doesn’t ultimately resolve. It is believed that allergies can’t be cured but only managed and there is not even an expectation of cure.

In homeopathy we are always treating the patient and never treating a specific disease. There are many different remedies that could be useful in cases of allergic dermatitis and the goal is always to individualize the remedy to the patient and prescribe the one that has the greatest similarity to his/her particular collection of symptoms. The remedy that has been helpful in Faruha’s case would fail to bring such help in many other similar cases, and only the medicine most suited to each patient will provide the same level of benefit.

The photos shown at the beginning of the article contrast Faruha’s condition before starting homeopathy, compared with a more recent photo taken about 8 months into treatment. Faruha continues with the same remedy in a series of ascending potencies to address her skin issues and she continues to improve over time. The ultimate goal for her is that her skin issues will completely resolve and to experience better health on the whole. She is well on her way to that end and is enjoying a much improved quality of life. This is not to say she doesn’t have ups and downs along the way as is common with chronic treatment, but she continues to make progress and improve more and more with time.