Perhaps one of the most over prescribed and under researched medication administered by doctors and dermatologists are topical steroids. These types of steroids can be applied to a wide swath of skin conditions, and a few of these will be diseases and disorders like eczema, acne, dermatitis, rashes, and psoriasis. What needs to first be asked is, how safe are they?

Topical steroids are often considered to be safe simply because they are prescribed by doctors, dermatologists, and medical professionals alike. Due to the fact that these steroids can alter the state of the patients skin in little time, doctors within the medication profession readily hand them out.

Topical steroids are effective due largely to the speed in which they are absorbed into one's skin cells. In a nutshell, topical steroids serve to halt the release of numerous inflammation causing chemicals that are normally released when the skin comes into contact with allergens or irritation.

Left untreated, the inflammation-causing chemicals widen blood vessels causing redness and swelling. Relief is provided with topical steroids to the effects such as irritation and inflammation is reduced all due to the prevention of this release from within the skin. What is the negative effect here is that topical steroids will bring about more problems many times than the initial problem (acne, inflammation, etc) was.

WHY TOPICAL TREATMENTS ARE NOT THE BEST NATURAL AND EFFECTIVE ACNE TREATMENT TO ELIMINATE ACNE INFLAMMATION

What can happen can be negative in terms of both internal and external damage. Some effects could be:

- Adrenal gland suppression - Crushing's Syndrome - Fluid retention - Raised blood pressure - Diabetes - Increased aggression - Anaphylactic shock - Birth defects - Blood clotting - Cancer - Cardiovascular disease - Depression - Gynecomastia - Hair loss - Kidney and liver problems - Prostate enlargement and testicular atrophy

The side effects attributed to the skin are also severely troubling. Of the more alarming are:

- Stretch marks, striae, and the thinning of the skin - Easy bruising and tearing of the skin - Perioral dermatitis (rash around the mouth) - Enlarged blood vessels (telangiectasia) - A higher susceptibility to infections of the skin - Disguising infection such as tinea incognito - The steroid cream giving off strong allergies

As shown above, this list of consequences can bring about a problem greater than the one you had originally set out to eliminate with the initial usage of the topical steroids. The great thing about natural skin treatments is that they are just as effective but without the negative side effects. For this reason alone, they are more recommended.