I have not heard of heavy sweating in a sweat lodge to be helpful for damaged skin and it can be a little bit risky unless you are doing it with someone experienced and supervising you in the process. However, heavy sweating can be very beneficial for detoxification as skin is one of our four major organs of detoxification and the benefits from that can be helpful to your health as a whole.

Posted by Dr. Allison Pontius

Yes.  Detoxification is extremely healthy in any patient with a chronic disease.  Detoxification can help kick-start a weight loss program with patients that are on a plateau because many toxins are stored in a fat tissue and without proper detoxification; the body does not want to release these toxins into the bloodstream.  Additionally, patients with any chronic disease, but in particular, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease, etc. can benefit greatly from detoxification.  Most of my patients have a significant improvement in their symptoms, feel better and have more energy, and cope better with their chronic disease.

No, detoxification is really performed to clean simple eating that does not tax the body systems, and then after the supporting the functions of the liver, kidney, and gutt, and even the skin.  The four organs of detoxification are the liver, kidney, gutt and skin, and we try to support all of these during a period of detoxification.  It typically does not include fasting or using any type of colonic therapy.   While these may be helpful, it is not something I would normally recommend as the most optimal way to help support the body’s detoxification process.