According to siddha medicine skin diseases are defined under the name kuttam.there are 18 types of skin diseases.before knowing the types we can discuss how a skin disease is caused.no 1-infection by bacteria, fungus, virus, parasites. No 2-vitamin deficiency. No 3-drug and food allergy. No 4-decrease of antioxidants in the body. No 5 disturbed immune system. No 6-in according to the occupation.In the all above said causes one thing is clear anything which is not well digested in the body precipitates in the skin as skin diseases. ForInstance :-in infection the microorganisms are not digested by the immune system like wise. These undigested toxic products of metabolism are called ama in ayurveda.These ama inturn disturbs the three life forces vata,pitta,kabha the vitation of these forces are the main causes of skin diseases. Another important thing to be noted “oxidative stress”.It is a phenomenon caused by an imbalance between production and accumulation of oxygen reactive species in cells and tissues and ability of a biological system to detoxify these reactive products. Based according to the character of skin disease it is differentiated into 18 types. padarthamarai kuttam, koppula kuttam, sirangu kuttam, yaanai thol kuttam, kadhu kuttam, thol kuttam, karu kuttam, athikai kuttam , valaiya kuttam , vali kuttam, sori kuttam, senkuttam, panrithol kuttam, thol vedi kuttam, thadippu kuttam, nakkuttam, surai kuttam, ven kuttam.
The three vitiated doshas inturn vitiates the seven body tissues namely rasa dhathu[lymph], blood, muscle tissue. The premonitory symptoms include lack of touch sensation in the skin, excessive sweating, itching, pricking pain, physical exhaustion, mental fatigue, discoloration and elevation of the patches in the skin, excessive pain in the ulcerated parts, instantaneous appearance and continued persistence of these ulcers , burning sensation and numbness. Factors aggravating skin diseases are pregnancy, lifestyle issues, stress, sun.
