Healthy skin centre

Tea tree oil for skin problems

Beth Seigenthaler stumbled across a promotional display for tea tree oil in her local health food shop while she was having a particularly bad episode of cold sores.�Having had the condition since childhood, she thought she might as well try the product, which claimed to help a variety of skin conditions. She found that the pain of the sores disappeared immediately, and she healed more quickly than she ever had before.

Seigenthaler, from Nashville in the US, has used it on other skin conditions, including a verruca and sunburn, and makes sure she packs it for the holidays. "I have bottles of it at my office, at home and in the car.? she says. ?I'm a walking commercial for the product".

There is some scientific evidence to support Seigenthaler's good experience. A 1990 study published in the Medical Journal of Australia reported that a solution of 5% tea tree oil treated acne just as well as 5% benzoyl peroxide.

Wonder from down under

Tea tree oil comes from the Australian paperbark tree and has been used traditionally as a folk remedy by Australian aborigines. There are close to 300 varieties of Melaleuca alternifolia (the Latin name for the tea tree), but only one produces the medicinal oil. Tea tree oil became popular in the 1920s after Australian servicemen reported its therapeutic uses. In 1922 the Royal Society of New South Wales reported that the oil was a particularly effective antiseptic.

Tea tree oil has been used to treat mouth ulcers and abscesses, conjunctivitis, acne, boils, impetigo, psoriasis, dandruff, vaginitis, thrush, septic wounds, cuts and abrasions, carbuncles, pus-filled infections and ringworm. It is also said to ease the pain of burns and haemorrhoids and help rid the hair and body of lice and ticks.

According to naturopathic and homoeopathic doctor and author Asa Hershoff, tea tree oil has antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral properties and stimulates the immune system.

"It's a reliable antiseptic", says Hershoff, author of Homeopathic Remedies: A Quick and Easy Guide to Common Disorders and Their Homeopathic Treatments. "There just aren't that many substances that have all the therapeutic applications that tea tree oil does". Plus, though tea tree oil is slower to show benefits than benzoyl peroxide, says Dr Hershoff, it results in less itching, scaling and irritation.