Diana M Drake Natural MedicineSkin & hair

Your skin is the body’s third kidney.

It’s an elimination organ. When the routes underneath it are congested, it takes on the load — and what you see on your face and hands is your body trying to get something out. Creams work on the surface. I work on what’s putting it there.

What people come to me with

Stubborn inflammatory skin issues

Perioral dermatitisEczemaPsoriasisRosaceaFolliculitisHormonal acneUnknown skin issues nobody has namedAutoimmune flare-ups that show on the skin

Most people arrive having already been given something topical, or a prescription. It clears while they use it and returns when they stop — which tells you the cause was never on the skin in the first place.

Prescription drugs only suppress the immune system or an inflammatory pathway. The toxicity and the inflammation don’t go anywhere — your body simply routes them somewhere else. That’s not healing. That’s relocating the problem, and you’ll meet it again later wearing a different name.

How I see it

Detoxification is imperative with skin

If the skin is doing the eliminating, something upstream isn’t.

It usually starts in the gut

In my experience most skin issues are associated with a fungal infection or another type of infection in the gut. When the gut lining is compromised, what should have been absorbed leaks out instead — into the lymphatic system, and eventually out through your skin. Clear the surface without addressing that and it simply comes back.

Elimination pathways come first

Detoxification is imperative with skin conditions. Before anything else, your body needs open, working pathways for what it’s trying to clear — otherwise it keeps pushing it through your face, hands and appendages.

Food is doing more than you think

Sensitivities are only part of it. Each skin condition has its own diet — specific to that condition, not a generic elimination plan — built on top of removing what you personally react to.

These protocols took a decade to build

The diets I use come from more than ten years of working holistically on skin conditions. They’re not adapted from someone else’s program — they’re what I have seen success with clinically, case after case, year after year.

Testing

Skin nearly always needs labs

What I’d look at

Your lab recommendations are custom to your symptoms — I don’t run the same panel on everyone. For skin, that generally means two things:

Food sensitivities & allergies
  • IgG — what you’re sensitive to
  • IgE — what you’re allergic to
Microbiome panel
  • Beneficial versus harmful bacteria
  • Gut barrier function — checking for leaky gut
  • H. pylori infection
  • Fungal overburden

Hormones are added where your symptoms point that way. All labs are included in your program — you don’t pay for them separately.

Hair

Hair loss is a signal, not a cosmetic problem

Hair thinning and shedding almost always trace back to something measurable. These are the four I see most, and they need to be properly evaluated rather than guessed at — working on the wrong system or pathway wastes months.

Hormonal

Elevated DHT

A potent androgen that miniaturises the follicle. Common, and rarely tested before someone is sold a topical.

Stress axis

Adrenal and cortisol

Driven by prolonged stress and poor diet. Shedding often shows up months after the stressful period, which is why people don’t connect the two.

Replacement

Too much HRT or TRT

Hormone replacement set too high can drive loss rather than prevent it. Dosing needs review using saliva hormone testing, not blood.

Thyroid

Thyroid imbalance

One of the most common causes and one of the most commonly missed — particularly when standard labs came back “normal.”

How long it takes

Usually three to six months

3–6 months

Skin is slow because it’s downstream. We have to clear what’s driving it, open your elimination pathways and let your skin turn over — and skin regenerates on its own schedule, not ours. I’ll tell you at the start which end of that range I think you’re looking at.

Everything is included for the whole duration — your labs, supplements, herbal and homeopathic formulas, your condition-specific diet, every appointment, and direct messaging with me throughout.

In their words

Severe skin relief — two client stories

★★★★★

Obviously treating symptoms and not the cause.

After hearing Dr. Drake as a guest on a podcast I listen to (topic skin problems), we contacted her and my husband became a client. She said he had Peri-Oral Dermatitis. Allopathic dermatologists call it Seborraic Dermatitis. The best way to describe it is to call it facial dandruff. It was under his nose, around his mouth, under his eyes and on his eyelids.He had flakes all over those areas daily.

My husband had been struggling with it for 8 months before we began with Dr. Drake. During that time, he saw two dermatologists. Both gave him hydrocortisone (not good for you) which cleared the “dandruff” but it would return. Obviously treating symptoms and not the cause.

Dr. Drake said the cause was a candida/yeast infection in the gut that can manifest on the face. We had phone appointments with Dr. Drake once a month for 7 months, October 2024 to April 2025. She gave him a protocol of supplements which was changed as needed and a special diet to follow. She said it would take 3 – 6 months to clear it up both outside and inside. My husband followed everything to the letter.

My husband’s face is now 95% clear and another benefit is his digestive system is now working properly. He has had digestive issues the whole time we’ve been together. We’ve been married for 37 years. It’s a miracle for us. Thank you Dr. Drake!

Sandy PetkewiczGoogle reviewPerioral dermatitis · gut candida · 6 months
★★★★★
I cannot thank Dr. Diana Drake enough. Shortly after following her protocol my stubborn and persistent acne finally cleared - after about 20 years of trying everything! But, even more importantly, I learned about my metabolic health. Thank you so much Diana!
Tyler BritoGoogle reviewAcne · 20 years

Find out what’s actually driving it

Start with the free assessment, or book a complimentary 15-minute call. It’s a short appointment to see if we’re a good fit, what labs I’d recommend for you, and how to get started.

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What I am, and what I’m not

I’m a Board Certified Traditional Naturopath — not a licensed medical doctor. I don’t diagnose disease or prescribe medication. Most people come to me because they’re tired of the western medical sick-care model and want to understand and heal their body rather than manage it. What I do is find the patterns underneath how you feel and build a program that supports your body in correcting them. When it’s appropriate I’ll work alongside a medical practitioner — and I’ll tell you directly when something belongs with one.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is educational and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease, nor to substitute for care from a licensed medical provider. Program length is a clinical recommendation and individual results vary.