Viviana asks…I recently found the Dr Keng or Heng’s discovery about the benefits of curcumin on rosacea, the product is psoria-gold. I would like to know what you think about that, does it really work? I am thinking on try a mask with turmeric, honey and milk, once a week, and i do not want to waste my time.
The Beauty Brains respond:
Curcumin (also known as diferuloylmethane) is an active component in the spice turmeric and has anti-inflammatory properties. According to PubMed there is some published research indicating that curcumin is effective against psoriasis but we couldn’t find any specific reference proving it’s effective on rosacea.
And here’s more bad news: even if curcumin is effective against rosacea there’s no way to tell if there’s enough cucurmin in the Psoria-Gold to actually be effective. Further more, according to their website, Psoria-Gold contains a good amount of isopropyl alcohol which can dry/irritatye skin and make rosacea even worse!
Can you make a DIY turmeric mask?
Remember that we said that turmeric does contain curcumin? Well, we should also mention that curcumin has to be properly extracted from the spice or it won’t be effective. When swallowed the tumeric can be metabolized but just dumping some turmeric in honey and milk and rubbing it on your face won’t cut it. Extracting a decent amount of curcumin from turmeric requires takes several hours and requires using a combination of ethanol and water (or other solvents such as petroleum ether.) A do it yourself mask is most likely a waste of time.
The Beauty Brains bottom line
While the scientific literature does indicate that cucurmin has anti-inflammatory properties there’s no real data showing that the Psoria-Gold or your homemade version will help with your rosacea.
Bonus fact: Did you know that tumeric root is part of the ginger family?
References:
Adv Exp Med Biol. 2007;595:343-57. Beneficial role of curcumin in skin diseases.