SKIN-CREDIBLE
My husband and I rub breast milk into our skin everyday – it’s so soft but we have to use lavender to mask the smell
A MUM who has battled a chronic skin condition for the last two years says breast milk has cured her.
Ashley LeMieux suffers with psoriasis, which can cause flaky patches of skin which form scales.
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While in most cases, doctors will prescribe treatments like topical creams and ointments, the 36-year-old claims to have found her own 'cure'.
She said pouring her own breast milk on her hands and massaging it for just four days healed her skin - and has also left her husband with soft skin.
But the couple said they have to use lavender to mask the smell, with Ashley admitting: "It doesn't smell so good."
The author said her skin condition, which got worse during pregnancy, was not only incredibly painful and felt "like a million needles" it also affected her ability to move her fingers, leaving her struggling to write.
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When a nurse described her as having "old lady hands", the mum was left feeling too "embarrassed" to even shake hands with people.
After sharing her struggles online, many fans of the viral mental health and wellness expert flooded to her inbox to suggest using her own breast milk to soothe her "cracked" hands.
Now, convinced of its "amazing healing properties", Ashley has created a daily lotion which she applies to her hands and even shares with her husband Mike LeMieux so that he has soft skin too.
Ashley, from Phoenix, Arizona, said: "Breast milk is amazing.
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"I'd been talking about having psoriasis on my Instagram stories and so many people responded and told me to put breast milk on my hands.
"They said it would heal the cuts and help the inflammation so I thought 'why not?'.
"I used it [breast milk] for a week and within four days my hands looked better than they have in two years. I thought 'oh my god wow, this is amazing'."
The mum said she had been putting it on every morning and night, pouring it onto her hands and then soaking them in a bowel.
She added that she would use frozen breast milk which had thawed out, so when she applied it, it was 'cold and smooth'.
"Immediately after I put it on my hands, they just felt so much softer. The texture of the breast milk was really soothing. It took the redness and inflammation down almost immediately.
"It's completely cleared it up now, which is amazing.
"Psoriasis actually runs in my family I got it a couple of years ago and then it got worse during pregnancy.
"It kept getting worse and then the past couple of months were really bad, I could hardly bend my fingers which is a problem as I'm writer."
What is psoriasis?
THE NHS states that psoriasis is a skin condition that causes flaky patches of skin which form scales.
On most skin types the patches can look pink or red, with the scales looking white or silvery.
These patches normally appear on your elbows, knees, scalp and lower back, but can appear anywhere on your body, states.
The condition affects two in 100 people in the UK and can start at any age.
Psoriasis is a long-lasting (chronic) disease that usually involves periods when you have no symptoms or mild symptoms, followed by periods when symptoms are more severe, the NHS states.
A GP can diagnose the condition based on the appearance of your skin.
You might be referred to a specialist in skin conditions and in rare cases a small biopsy might be sent to the laboratory.
Ashley added that before using the breast milk as a remedy, every time time she washed her hands it felt like a million needles were going into them.
She said it made her embarrassed and added that she was always trying to find ways to hide her hands.
After posting a video on TikTok pouring the breast milk over her hands, many suggested in the comments she turn it into a lotion.
Now, Ashley has been applying it once a day in a formula mixed with beeswax and coconut oil, and has even frozen some of it into a silicone ice roller which she's been using to 'de-puff' her face in the morning.
Her husband Mike also decided to try it on his hands as they were feeling dried out by the cold - now finding them to be the 'softest' they'd ever been.
Ashley said: ";I looked up a recipe, and now I have it in a lotion.
"It has beeswax and coconut oil melted together and then I added a few drops of vitamin E oil and three ounces of breast milk.
"The breast milk doesn't smell too good so I also add in a few drops of lavender essential oil. It makes it smell better.
"I mixed it all together and now the breastmilk lotion has hardened up and I keep it in little jars."
Ashley added that she "doesn't know the science", behind why the breast milk as worked, but said that the milk is "full of healing properties".
"My husband thinks it's really cool. He doesn't have psoriasis but his hands get a little bit dry because it's winter, so he asked to try it.
"He's been using it on his hands and said it's the softest his hands have ever been.
"Throughout the whole process he just keeps saying 'women's bodies are just so amazing'," she said.
One mum previously said that breastmilk is the reason her skin 'glowed', claiming it was helping her stay youthful.
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Others have made facemasks out of their milk, saying it's 'liquid gold' for antiageing.
Another mum claimed her milk had cured her baby of eczema, and a stated that it is as effective as one per cent hydrocortisone ointment, often prescribed to treat eczema.
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