The tiny red dots on on your skin are called Cherry Angiomas.
What are these small red spots on skin? What Causes them? What can be done about them? Should I ignore them as most websites indicate? Lets approach it using a simple algorithm:
What do We Think
What Do We Know
What Can We Prove
While most websites, even medical sites say that the cause of tiny red spots on skin is unknown, scientific literature suggests several other possibilities. These spots have been called a form of chemical sensitivity.
Note: Angiomas are not considered harmful by themselves. However, they can appear as a consequence of disorders such as cirrhosis or liver disorder. For this reason, we believe that they should be treated seriously and never ignored. Because they have been associated with chemical sensitivity, we agree with a statement on one of the research papers on the topic...."Despite extensive clinical evidence to support the veracity of this clinical state, many members of the medical community are reluctant to accept this condition as a pathophysiologic disorder."
The Older You Get...the tiny red spots seem to increase with age. However, there is increasing indication that these are happening on younger people than originally thought.
Could they Be From Chemical Exposure?... There is medical literature indicating that chemical exposure could cause the small red dots on skin. These chemicals include 2-butoxyethanol, mustard gas, cyclosporine and bromides.
Could they Be In Your Genes?... While there could be a genetic connection, consider this: What are the chances of family members all being exposure to the same chemicals?
Could they Be From Exposure to Bromides?...
Could they Be From Other Chemical Exposure?
Chemico-Biological Interactions in 2013 looked at the effects of Sulfur mustard, a chemical warfare agent.
It reviewed the clinical findings from SM casualties from the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988), with an emphasis on injury to the skin.
Several men accidentally exposed to SM in the United States experienced chronic skin problems similar to the Iranian casualties including pruritis (the primary complaint), burning, pain, redness, hyperpigmentation, hypopigmentation, erythematous papular rash, multiple cherry angiomas, atrophy, dermal scarring, hypertrophy, and sensitivity to mechanical injury with recurrent blistering and ulceration.
The Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine in 1998 said in the abstract that "...seven clerical workers were evaluated in 1993, 8 months after exposure to vaporized 2-butoxyethanol which had been applied overnight to strip the floor of their file room. The exposure caused intense eye and respiratory irritation, difficulty breathing, nausea, and faintness. It was believed the concentration of 2-BE in the air was 200-300 parts per million (ppm)."
"The cherry angiomas began to appear on the arms, trunk, and thighs of six workers, four months after the exposure. There was no indication of liver, lung, or renal toxicity, but elevations in the erythrocyte sed rate and blood pressure of each subject were found. New cherry angiomas continued to appear 5 years later after original exposure. While angiomas occur in healthy people as they age, in these people, they appear to have resulted from a single overexposure to 2-BE."
Archives of Dermatological Research in 2013 suggested a possible involvement of HHV8 in eruptive cherry angiomas development, particularly in the context of immunosuppression, similar to that recognized for major HHV8-induced pathologies.
Most of those opposed to natural cures will say that our livers and our kidneys do all the filtering we need. This overlooks the human physiology and that not all toxins are expelled through our gut and pee. Some are stored in the fat cells. Some are stored in other parts of our body. The body will try to expel the toxins in numerous ways, including skin and breath.
As a hospital nurse, I have seen numerous times where tumors worked their way out of the body, erupting through the skin. Wounds that open up on the shin, looking like a pressure ulcer but there was no pressure to have caused the wound. They were the toxins working their way out of the blood into the capillaries and into the skin to be expelled from the body. And wounds that open on the lower legs for what seems to be no apparent reason. The reason is however, 1) it is the lower extremity and easier for tissues to accumulate and 2) the skink is the thinnest or has the least fat in some places on the legs and feet.
So, how can this happen? What Causes the Tiny Red Dots on Skin?
When the is liver unable to filter it out certain toxins, they are circulated in the body. The body then will sequester the chemical, often in a place where it is close to the surface of the skin.
The unwanted and toxic chemical, in this case, is sent to the skin of the trunk and upper arms. The blood vessels that hold it, end up self destructing, resulting in the tiny red spot you see. The fact that if popped, they bleed, is an indication of their damage due to the toxic chemical exposure.
Some doctors and health care professionals will dismiss this. There is sound science as to what is going on and why this happens. Consider the info on persistent toxicants.
The first three examples above point to chemical exposures as a potential cause. Chemicals that the body evidently can not filter out through the liver. The result, the skin sequesters it near the surface and it causes damage that results in the red spots on skin.
Beyond Salt Intake from Drinks: Go to the Well
Before going on, one more thing that we know and can prove needs to be addressed here.
There are a number of sites that talk about detoxifying and cleanses. While we do not have an opinion on these treatments, there are numerous professionals that will say that cleanses are junk science and that we have an efficient filtering system that gets rid of toxins in our body. If the body is so good at detoxifying, then why do people have multiple chemical sensitivities?
These fail to recognize what science calls toxicants. These are chemical agents that can have a number of health altering effects, including disrupting reproductive, developmental, and neurological processes, having endocrine-disrupting, carcinogenic, epigenetic and immune-altering actions.
Some for these toxicants may have a biological effect at such small levels that they on their own are not harmful. However, because these compounds are persistent and bioaccumulative inside our body, they can disrupt our health.
Scientists are now looking at ways to help eliminate persistent toxicants from the human body in order to prevent chronic degenerative illness.
So, while some may dismiss these as not being a health risk, it is a real problem, as a 2011 paper in Human & Experimental Toxicology included in the NCBI says.
Conclusions: "Despite extensive clinical evidence to support the veracity of this clinical state, many members of the medical community are reluctant to accept this condition as a pathophysiologic disorder."
The emerging problem of ubiquitous adverse toxicant exposures in modern society has resulted in escalating numbers of individuals developing a CS disorder. As usual in medical history, iconoclastic ideas and emerging evidence regarding novel disease mechanisms, such as the pathogenesis of CS, have been met with controversy, resistance, and sluggish knowledge translation.
In our survey, it seems that the water cures will not eliminate the sequestered chemicals once they have created the tiny red dots on the skin.
It is unknown if the Water Cures protocol can have a preventive benefit but logically, it would seem to help prevent the problem.
We are deeply interested in this topic and will be following up.
Please check back for more information as this research is ongoing.