Manage Psoriasis With Essential Oils

Are you seeking a natural cure for your psoriasis? Essential oils might be the answer you’ve been searching for. This article explores 14 essential oils with anti-inflammatory, hydrating, and calming properties to help soothe your skin and control psoriasis symptoms, including reducing the redness, irritation, and roughness related to this skin condition.

This list provides helpful options to support the health of your skin organically, whether you’re new to essential oils or looking to broaden your natural skincare routine.

How Essential Oils Help Treat Psoriasis?

Essential Oils are concentrated extracts of naturally occurring oils. They can be from flowers, plants, or even fruit skin. Essential oils combine critical aromatic compounds that have impactful benefits in healing several health and skin conditions, including psoriasis.

Essential oils offer a natural approach to managing psoriasis, a chronic skin condition characterized by red, scaly patches. These oils possess anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and skin-soothing properties that can help alleviate symptoms such as itching, redness, and irritation.

Popular choices like tea tree oil, lavender oil, and eucalyptus oil reduce flare-ups and promote healing. Incorporating essential oils into your daily skincare routine can enhance overall well-being while relieving psoriasis symptoms.

14 Best Essential Oils for Psoriasis

Let’s examine the best essential oils that offer promising results for treating psoriasis.

1. Tea Tree Oil

Tea tree oil is designated as one of the most effective essential oils for treating psoriasis because of its antibacterial, antifungal (R), and anti-inflammatory (R) properties. Although tea tree oil doesn’t necessarily cure the disease of psoriasis, it helps to resolve the symptoms that come with it. It also helps prevent infection caused by the constant scratching of skin.

What To Do?

1. Mix 3-4 drops of tea tree oil with any carrier oil (such as coconut oil)
2. Apply this mixture to the affected part and let it seep into the skin

How Often?

Do this every other day or daily when your skin gets very dry and feels itchy

2. Lavender Oil

Lavender essential oil is one of the most discussed essential oils for curing psoriasis. Apart from its calming properties, lavender oil is also beneficial in healing the redness and inflammation that often accompany psoriasis. Much like tea tree oil, this oil is loaded with beneficial antimicrobial properties (R), which are helpful for psoriasis treatment.

What To Do?

1. Mix a few drops of the lavender oil with any carrier oil
2. Apply this on the affected areas of psoriasis and gently massage it in with clean hands
3. Leave it on and let it soak into the skin

How Often?

This can be done daily, but avoid applying it when pregnant or breastfeeding

3. Chamomile Oil

Chamomile essential oil works well for treating psoriasis. If you suffer from discomfort and inflammation caused by psoriasis, try switching up your skincare routine by including chamomile oil to treat psoriasis of the scalp and other body parts.

Chamomile oil helps shrink the blood vessels to avoid further inflammation (R) that could further worsen the patient’s condition. It also prevents the possible induction of infection on the skin surface that could arise because of excessive scratching.

What To Do?

1. Mix 4-5 drops of chamomile oil with any carrier oil
2. Apply this mixture to the affected areas on the scalp and other parts of the body
3. Let it soak into your skin

How Often?

Since this is a topical application, there is no harm in applying this regularly to keep the skin moisturized and heal dry and scaly skin.

4. Bergamot Oil

Bergamot is a citrus fruit with many beneficial properties to treat skin diseases like psoriasis. Bergamot essential oil (R) is often used as a skin cleanser, helping to purify the skin and eliminate any remnant irritations that could be causing problems in an individual’s daily lifestyle.

What To Do?

1. Mix a few drops of the oil into a carrier oil
2. Rub it over the affected areas of the scaly skin and leave it on

How Often?

Do this daily to enjoy the maximum benefits of essential oil in treating psoriasis and other skin diseases.

5. Frankincense Oil

Frankincense essential oil contains antioxidants and natural compounds like a-pinene, limonene, and a-phellandrene. These help reduce the inflammation associated with psoriasis, making it one of the best holistic approaches to treating it.

What To Do?

1. Take a double boiler and add half a cup of shea butter to it
2. Add the same quantity of beeswax into the mixture and melt it completely
3. Once that’s completely melted, add a few drops of Frankincense essential oil and mix thoroughly
4. Store it in a jar and apply it throughout the day to keep the scaling and drying of the skin at bay

How Often?

Keep the mixture in a jar and apply it whenever your skin is scaling or drying.

6. Rose Oil

If you are looking for an essential oil for psoriasis itching, rose essential oil (R) is the one. It has antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties, which work together to provide beneficial results in healing dry and scaled skin caused by psoriasis.

What To Do?

1. Mix 2-3 drops of rose essential oil into a carrier oil
2. Apply this topically on the affected part of the skin because of psoriasis
3. Leave it on and let it seep into the skin

How Often?

Do this whenever your skin becomes too dry and itchy.

7. Geranium Oil

Geranium (Pelargonium graveolens) oil helps improve blood circulation and reduce inflammation and stress. It also promotes healthy cell growth and regeneration. According to several studies, geranium helps acne, eczema, and psoriasis. Dilute this oil well. This oil may cause modest adverse effects when applied to the skin, even diluted. Allergic skin responses are prevalent with geranium oil. Always perform a patch test before using any essential oils on larger areas of skin.

What To Do?

1. Mix 4-5 drops of geranium oil with half a cup of coconut oil
2. Apply this mixture to the affected areas of the psoriasis and leave it on

How Often?

Repeat this process twice or thrice daily till you see the results.

8. Peppermint Oil

Peppermint oil (R) is one of the best essential oils for treating psoriasis because of its soothing and cooling properties. The menthol in peppermint helps relieve the constant irritation and itching that accompanies psoriasis. Peppermint oil is potent and should always be diluted with carrier oil.

What To Do?

1. Mix a few drops of peppermint oil with a carrier oil, and apply to affected areas.
2. Alternatively, add a few drops of peppermint oil to a spray bottle filled with water.
3. Spritz this on the areas that are itching and causing irritation

How Often?

The spray bottle remedy with peppermint oil can be used whenever itching and irritation have intensified and need to be toned down.

9. Helichrysum Oil

Helichrysum oil is extracted from the evergreen flower of the same name. This oil has beneficial effects on healing several skin diseases, including psoriasis. Although there are few studies and research concerning this oil, the results are promising.

What To Do?

1. Dilute it with carrier oils (almond, coconut, or olive oil.)
2. Apply this on the areas where the skin is scaling and dry the most, and leave it on.

How Often?

Apply the oil twice daily until the scaling, dryness, and irritation disappear.

10. Bitter Apricot Oil

Bitter apricot oil has beneficial effects in arresting excessive skin cell growth in patients with psoriasis. Although the study (R) doesn’t necessarily involve clinical trials, the results did suggest possible effects on the causative reason behind this skin disease.

What To Do?

1. Mix 4-5 drops of bitter apricot essential oil with a carrier oil
2. Apply this on the reddened and inflamed area of the skin and leave it on

How Often?

Apply this on the affected parts of the skin twice or thrice daily for effective results.

11. Sandalwood Oil

Sandalwood oil has anti-inflammatory and anti-proliferative (R) properties, which work together to treat the redness and inflammation accompanying psoriasis. Its medicinal and therapeutic effects help relieve the consistent irritation and itching that often accompany this skin disease.

What To Do?

1. Massage a few drops of sandalwood oil into the dry and scaly skin
2. Make sure to do a patch test before applying it to the irritated part of the skin

How Often?

Do this twice daily for noticeable results.

12. Patchouli Oil

Patchouli essential oil is extracted by steam distilling patchouli leaves. It has beneficial effects in treating psoriasis and other skin diseases, such as rosacea and eczema. Although this oil doesn’t have specific properties, its benefits set it apart from other oil variants.

What To Do?

1. Mix a few drops of patchouli essential oil in half a cup of any carrier oil.
2. Pour and store it in any applicator bottle.
3. Apply it on dry, scaly skin to rejuvenate and remove dead skin cells.

How Often?

Apply the oil combination twice daily to the affected areas and leave it on so it soaks into the skin.

13. Myrrh Oil

Myrrh essential oil provides notable advantages for skin comfort and is an effective tool for controlling psoriasis. Myrrh oil, well-known for its therapeutic and anti-inflammatory qualities, helps reduce the redness and irritation of psoriasis flare-ups. Its organic ingredients help to calm the skin, encourage healing, and fortify the skin’s barrier.

Regularly applying myrrh essential oil can improve the general comfort and texture of the skin.

What To Do?

1. Blend a few drops of myrrh essential oil with any carrier oil of your choice.
2. Apply this to dried and chapped skin, whether on the scalp or other parts of the body.
3. Leave it on and let the oil soak into the skin to moisturize and heal it from within.

How Often?

Repeat twice or thrice daily till you notice promising results.

14. Clary Sage Oil

Clary sage is often considered one of the underrated essential oils for treating scalp psoriasis. It has both anti-inflammatory and antiseptic properties, which benefit the skin during flare-ups caused by psoriasis. It even prevents the possibility of developing an infection during an excessive infection.

What To Do?

1. Add 9-10 drops of clary sage oil in your bathtub and soak the inflamed areas.
2. You can also add a few drops to warm water and apply it to the affected skin areas with a cotton cloth or something to let the oil’s active ingredients work their magic.

How Often?

Apply Clary Sage oil 2-3 times a week for maximum results.

Essential oils for psoriasis are one of the best approaches to healing skin issues without inflicting the side effects often witnessed with other remedies. The only thing to be careful with when using essential oils is to perform a patch test before using them on your skin.

• Aug 2018
  Written by Somapika D
• Sep 2024
  Edited by Ankita