Natural 'Skin Fixer' welcomes regulation

Fixing other people’s skin is <a href="http://www.psoriasisandeczema.vpweb.com.au/default.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Peter Wilson’s</a> mission in life, and he spent four years obtaining a university degree to do it. This self-proclaimed “Skin Fixer” is a fully-qualified and fiercely passionate naturopath who specializes in the treatment of psoriasis and eczema, using 100% natural science-based remedies to treat patients with skin problems, like the fellow pictured right, on a daily basis. Peter joined hundreds of Naturopaths across the nation this week in welcoming a move to set up a national register of qualified and professional practitioners of natural medicine. “It’s about time I think, well overdue if you ask me.” Like most qualified health professionals, Peter needed to complete a biomedical science-based four-year degree before he graduated in naturopathy and opened his Psoriasis and Eczema Clinic in Lismore, yet despite the fact he’s a fully qualified practitioner, he’s afforded no differentiation from practitioners with little or no qualifications. A lack of regulation is also a public health issue, Peter points out. “It means that anyone in Australia can stick a sign out the front of their house and call themselves a naturopath or herbalist, and a lot of unqualified people are doing it,” he tells me. “There’s not a lot of awareness about just how many dodgy people are out there preparing concoctions in their backyard and ripping people off. Establishing this register will not only make it safer for people to consult a professional like me, it also represents a major step in the progress towards the full professionalisation and acceptance of the effective healing work we do.” Bearing in mind, research shows that nearly one in six Australians utilise complementary therapists as their primary care practitioners, and we’re doing so at increasing rates “because natural medicine works.” Peter says.  “It’s a wholistic approach to healthcare, so apart from working with the skin problems a patient might have, I work on the whole person, and a lot of that work includes addressing diet and stress, because stress is such a significant factor in the cause of skin disease,” says Peter, who’s worked in the field since 1998, having completed his degree years ago at Southern Cross University, which provided the first Australian university-based degree in naturopathy. Peter says he did his degree to give himself a scientific basis to work from. <img class="reflect" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3346/3634214160_946261cb64.jpg?v=0" height="336" alt="peterwilson1 (1) by you." width="448" /> Above: Peter studied hard to gain his qualifications and is proud of them, yet without registration, he’s afforded no differentation from those already practicing in the community with little or no qualifications. “Thinking about conventional medicine, skin specialists often distribute pharmaceuticals like steroids to address any skin conditions,” Peter says. “These are generally effective as an anti-inflammatory – in most cases they do clear up the skin problem – but they are a typical band-aid treatment: they don’t get to the root of the problem within the patient – which more often than not relates to diet or lifestyle factors."  He said sometimes, common pharmacological treatments for skin problems go beyond treating the symptoms. “Treatments like Cortisone cream have actually been proven to cause the skin to go thin, providing less of a solution and, in actual fact, doing more harm, contradicting Hyprocrites’ laws of care ‘first do no harm’, which Doctors swear to! Naturopaths, on the other hand, use our own uniquely blended 100% pure essential oils that are tailored to the patient’s individual needs and won’t aggravate the skin.” As Peter argues, the time is well overdue to set minimum standards for naturopaths and herbalists. “Registration will enable our patients to check their practitioners’ credentials – that’s the way it should be, trust in this kind of relationship is critical, especially when you’re dealing with a person’s health.” Earlier this month, a steering committee, representing key complementary medicine stakeholder groups, was established to set up the Australian Register of Naturopaths and Herbalists (ARONAH), which will independently register practitioners and set uniform standards. The committee will develop procedures and principles in preparation for launching the register in 2010, and is calling for submissions on this issue until August 31 on their website <a href="http://www.aronah.org" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.aronah.org</a> . After that, a transparent process of appointing a board to run the register will occur. Posted: Wednesday 17 June, 2009

2009-06-16T23:58:22Z

2009-06-30T09:49:51Z

Lismore’s ‘Skin Fixer’ Peter Wilson has joined the nation’s qualified naturopaths in welcoming a move to establish a register of qualified practitioners.

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