Quick fixes are unlikely to restore skin that's been deeply damaged by long-term use of steroid-based and toxic creams with hydroquinone, monobenzone or mercury. Instead, try slow and restorative healing from the inside out along with natural healing oils.

Skin damage from the long-term use of steroid-based or other toxic creams (e.g. hydroquinone, monobenzone, mercury) can be distressing. They can include thin/fragile skin, hyperpigmentation, dark marks, nerve damage and changes in texture.

However, with time and patience, there are ways to reverse the damage and restore your skin to its original health.

Our organs (including the skin) are resilient, and if we give it what it needs, it can slowly heal itself.

To support skin healing from the bottom-up, the first thing you can do is clean up your diet and lifestyle as much as possible.

Change your diet to include more fruits and vegetables. Read up on the healing benefits of an alkaline diet as well as raw fruits/vegetable juices.

An alkaline diet will help to heal skin from the bottom up.

The second thing you can do is to apply healing, penetrative oils on your skin every day (such as cold-pressed castor oil, extra virgin coconut oil or olive oil).

Use deeply penetrative healing oils like castor oil or extra virgin coconut oil daily to restore skin,

Castor oil is one of the most healing oils there is. In fact, castor oil can be especially helpful in treating chemically-damaged skin as it has the ability to draw out toxins and penetrate deeply into the skin.

Read more about castor oil

Other beneficial healing oils include shea butter, Vitamin E oil, cold-pressed coconut oil (EVCO), and extra virgin olive oil (EVOO).

Any oil you use should ideally be cold-pressed as it would retain more nutrients and not contain any chemical preservatives.

However, for this to work, patience really is key. It could take several months to a year of daily applications of oil to get results. 

As appealing as they are (and I definitely understand this feeling), quick fixes are unlikely to restore your skin. And any results you get from a ‘quick fix’ will likely prove disappointing or be temporary at best.

In the case of deeply damaged skin, I believe slow and steady really does win the race. It might help to know that the damage was done over a long period of time, so healing will also take time.