Growing out in the wild, even if it’s the wild of your backyard, plants must protect themselves from attack. They’re under constant assault from ultraviolet rays, pollution, and predators. It’s important that they have a first, powerful line of defense. Skin is that defense.

I’ve been thinking about a patient I saw recently. She was a busy mother in her late thirties who had come in for a bladder infection. Pretty routine, but at the end of the visit she asked me about her skin.

I get a number of questions about tea. There is a great deal of confusing information about tea and its benefits, especially when it comes to the skin. The good news is that there are some great skin benefits to tea; the difficulty is figuring out how to get the benefits.