If you suffer from acne, you may want to try an ionic foot bath detox. Or you may not. While this alternative medicine treatment has many firm believers, Scientific American magazine credits any positive benefits it has to the placebo effect, which is unlikely to show up as a reduction in acne.
Benefits
Despite lack of scientific evidence to support ionic foot baths, these are touted as a good way to clear your skin of acne due to their purported role in detoxification. Some supporters also claim the bath will reduce skin wrinkles. These foot baths also are recommended for treating a variety of other conditions and ailments. These include joint pain, inflammation, fluid retention, yeast build-up in your body, poor memory, fluid retention and headaches. Though it is a sham treatment, the foot bath may actually provide relief from some ailments, according to Scientific American, which notes studies confirm the usefulness of treatments that provide a placebo effect in many areas of medicine. These range from pain to depression to inflammatory disorders to cancer. Basically, your brain responds to the belief you are being treated, and this stimulates active brain processes such as immune response.
How It Works
To use an ionic foot bath, you put your feet into the small tub, which has a water and salt solution. You'll submerge electrodes that pass a small current into the water as well. This current purports to draw toxins from your body, which then pass through your feet. You'll supposedly know it is working when the water turns color. In reality, iron from the electrodes and rust are really responsible for such color changes.
Considerations
Those who try to sell you on the idea of ionic foot baths don't have consistent explanations of what "detox" actually means or accomplishes. Marketers and supporters likewise cannot provide reliable scientific evidence that detox therapies actually work. While color charts that show what toxin is coming out look impressive, different places identify differing colors with different toxins. Most of the toxins that are purportedly pulled from your feet would be colorless anyway, says Stephen Lower, a retired Simon Fraser University chemistry professor from British Columbia, Canada. In addition, most toxins are electronically neutral, and the current that purports to draw the bad elements from your body wouldn't be able to distinguish between toxins or "good" molecules. The final nail in the coffin, Lower says, is that no scientific exists that substances inside your body are able pass out of the skin on your feet.
Theory
The fact that a foot bath is relaxing makes for a theoretical benefit in terms of acne treatment. Acne is caused by the skin oil called sebum, which clogs your pores and provides a good environment for P. acnes to thrive. P. acnes is a bacteria that normally lives on your skin. As these multiply in a pore that is clogged, that pore gets inflamed. Sebum production is influenced by your hormones. Stress prompts release of hormones that theoretically may cause breakouts. The relaxing nature of a foot bath may help alleviate stress. However, while stress is commonly blamed for the development of acne, in part due to changes in hormones that it prompts, reducing stress isn't likely to have much impact on the course of acne treatment for most people, according to the American Academy of Dermatology.
References
- American Academy of Dermatology: AcneNet: What Causes Acne?
- American Academy of Dermatology: AcneNet: FAQ About Acne
- Healthy Detox Cleanse: Using the Ionic Foot Bath
- Toronto Counseling: Aok Ion Detox Foot Bath
- KSL Channel 5 News: KSL Examines a Controversial Therapy---Detoxifying Foot Baths; Debbie Dujanovic; February 25, 2008
- Chem1: Detoxifying Foot Bath Quackery
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