Five Skin Problems You’ll Face When Suffering From Addiction

Addiction can be very harmful to your body, not just on the inside, but the outside too.

Often the physical side effects of addiction are much more prevalent and can be the realization that you perhaps need help. You may have not even realized that you have a problem, but alcohol addiction is more common than you might think, and if you are drinking heavily then it may well be that you have an addiction too.

When it comes to physical side effects, alcohol and drugs can affect your body in a number of different ways, but the skin does always tend to suffer and you will find the following quite common no matter what you’re abusing…

Psoriasis

This is common with a number of drugs, most notably alcohol and it can be pretty gruesome and sore when highly dependent on a substance.

You’ll typically find flat, thick red plaques across your skin, commonly on the hands and feet with alcohol typically exacerbating it.

The likes of eczema, rosacea and seborrheic dermatitis are also common ailments due to addiction.

Parasitosis

 
Most common with methamphetamine users, parasitosis or “meth mites” occur due to the sensation of insects crawling under the skin which is often found by meth users. This then causes user to pick at their skin and cause a large number of skin sores on the body.

Venous Sclerosis

Commonly found among users of heroin, and particularly those that inject it, venous sclerosis is scarring of the veins which will look like track marks on the skin.

This can be incredibly harmful and cause significant infection when sharing needles.

Rashes

Pretty much all types of addiction can lead to rashes, and they can be like itchy hive-type rashes that can be incredibly intense.

It can last for several days and cause severe damage to your skin. 

Skin ulcers

A particular problem for cocaine users as a number of reports have previously found that large amounts of cocaine is cut with levamisole. This is a deworming agent for livestock and if ingested over a longer period of time can cause serious damage to the body.

This is likely to lead to skin ulcers and even rotting of the skin, which can look and feel horrific. If this has started to develop, seek medical advice immediately.

If any of those are occurring on your body, then it could be an overwhelming factor that you are abusing a substance and need help, not just for healthier looking skin, but for the damage being done on the inside and rest of your body too.

This is a guest blog entry.