Oregon Grape

Oregon Grape

Scientific Name: Berberis aquifolium

Part used: Root

In a word: The chronic skin disease plant

Uses: Chronic skin disease including psoriasis, blepharitis, eczema, acne, acne rosacea, and auto-immune related skin diseases

Chronic skin disease, problems such as psoriasis, eczema, and acne are not life threatening illnesses, though, they do threaten quality of life. Allopathic medicines treat skin diseases symptomatically. Steroid cream quells psoriasis as long as it is applied and antibiotics quiet acne as long as they are taken. When the medication stops the condition is still in place and symptoms rebound with a vengeance. Phytotherapists prefer to use agents which address the problem that lies beneath the skin condition by using tonic plants like Oregon Grape.

Herbal medicine offers more than one effective drug in the war against chronic skin disease. Oregon grape, Berberis aquifolium, was first introduced into medical practice by a drug company still operating today, Parke, Davis, & Co. The drug was first made commercially available in 1886 and became instantly popular amongst physicians treating skin conditions. A doctor practicing on the West Coast, a certain Dr. Bundy first noticed the plant’s ability to address skin disease and brought it to the attention of Parke, Davis, & Co.

Berbamine, found in Oregon grape, kills bacteria on contact. Even better, it improves immune function, which in a heightened state is better able to kill the bacteria itself.

At the time Dr. Bundy was practicing medicine, the prevailing notion was that chronic skin disease was the external manifestation of an internal problem. Doctors felt that the skin condition was really caused by a systemic fault, a problem with the blood, as many would say. Dr. Webster, writing in 1898, had this to say of Oregon grape, "Another excellent use for this remedy is to correct a depraved condition of the skin depending upon abnormal state of the blood. Some cutaneous affections yield readily to specific skin remedies, those which selectively influence the part, while others refuse to yield to such treatment and require something to improve the condition of the circulating fluids. In such cases berberis aquifolium is the first remedy to be thought of. It seems also to possess the additional quality of exerting a plastic influence upon the skin, as some cutaneous affections, such as acne, for instance, are benefited by it when it hardly seems possible that the blood can be at fault. It is a bad case of acne that will not manifest pronounced improvement after the patient has used the remedy a few months. As important a place for this remedy, because one supplied by so few others, is chronic eczema with irritable erysipeloid inflammation; here I think this remedy promises more than any other known."

It is interesting to note that Webster felt that the root of the problem was bad blood, or as Dr. Webster put it, a depraved condition of the blood. Today, we know that many chronic skin conditions are caused by a problem with the immune system, which indeed is a part of the blood. The doctors of the last century did not even know the immune system existed and yet they were very close in their estimation of the situation.

Contemporary practitioners reiterate what the old doctors said, Oregon grape will slowly and gradually improve chronic skin conditions. Dr. Webster gives us some valuable information regarding Oregon grape: "A point worthy of remark is the fact that the corrective influence of this drug is not obtainable in minute doses; but, as it seems only to posses a dynamical influence (exorbitant doses not producing serious disturbances of any part of the system), considerable latitude is allowable, provided the quantity be sufficient to impress the system profoundly. The dose of a saturated tincture or reliable fluid extract should range from ten to twenty drops, repeated three or four times daily. There can hardly be imagined an abnormal condition of the skin where this remedy may not be administered with advantage, if it be borne in mind that its effects are brought about slowly, and that structural changes require months for their accomplishment."

The message is that if you want to use Oregon Grape you have to be prepared to use it for long periods of time. This is a slow acting medicinal plant and one that must be persevered with if its effects are to be felt.

Oregon grape is thought to be made active by two alkaloids, berbamine and berberine. Berbamine has been found to be anti-dandruff, antihistamine, antibacterial, and active on the immune system. These findings in part explain why it has been found effective in a number of skin conditions. Acne is caused in part by bacteria and the berbamine found in Oregon grape kills bacteria on contact. Even better, it improves immune function, which in a heightened state is better able to kill the bacteria itself. Eczema and psoriasis are inflammatory conditions and the anti-inflammatory nature of berbamine would explain why the red goes out of these conditions when it is used with regularity.

The second contributor to the Oregon grape effect is Berberine which has been shown to be anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal, an anti-ulcer, and immuno-modulatory. Both berbamine and berberine are powerful liver stimulants, that is they stimulate the liver to cleanse the blood more efficiently. The dead doctors all said that Oregon grape was a blood cleanser and it seems they were exactly right. The role the liver plays in chronic skin disease is unclear, however, one thing is certain, when a person has a diseased liver, they develop chronic skin conditions. Liver stimulants all improve chronic skin conditions and Oregon grape is definitely a liver stimulant.

Sometimes understanding how something works must take a back seat to what herbalists see on a daily basis in clinical practice. When persevered with for a year or more, chronic, obstinate skin disease improves. Oregon grape is non-toxic and apart from stimulating the digestive and excretory processes, has no known side effects. It is perfectly benign and can be safely taken for long periods of time.

Oregon grape can be taken as a tincture or applied as a cream. Either treatment should be used on a daily basis for at least three months before an opinion is developed as to whether it is having any effect. Remember, it is a slow acting tonic plant! The best possible combination is to use the tincture internally and to apply the crème externally. However, if one had to choose, the tincture taken internally is probably most important part of this plan. Chronic skin disease require internal medication because the problem is not really the skin, the problem is really the body. The skin is merely mirroring a body problem. Taken the tincture internally results in the body getting the medicine it needs!

For those that have suffered with chronic skin disease for a long time, be encouraged. Many people with chronic skin disease have found relief with this simple herbal medicine.