Milk of magnesia helps skin

My son has acne. He is 16 and has been under a dermatologist’s care for many years, to no avail. He has recently tried a home remedy: applying milk of magnesia to his face at night before bed. He looks the best he has in four years.

Milk of magnesia is a solution of magnesium hydroxide and is best known for its laxative effect. We don’t know why it might combat acne, but we have heard that it can help clear up seborrheic dermatitis, in which yeast on skin causes redness and flakes, rather like dandruff, but on the forehead, chin, scalp and eyebrows. One reader says, “I have been using milk of magnesia on my face for the past two months, and my face flakes are gone! I pour it in my hand and massage it on my face (forehead, eyebrows, around the eyes, nose, cheeks and chin) while showering, and rinse it off at the end of the shower. End of problem.”

I developed a dry cough after my doctor put me on Altace. I would cough until I would gag and throw up. I asked my doctor for another medicine. He prescribed lisinopril, and I am having the same problem.

Both of your blood pressure medicines are ACE inhibitors and can cause a persistent cough in some people. A survey of participants on iGuard.org (which offers personalized estimates of drug risk and interaction concerns) showed that only one patient in four on lisinopril had been told that the drug could cause coughing. More than one-third of respondents had a chronic cough.

Joe Graedon and Teresa Graedon can be reached at www.peoplespharmacy.com or care of this newspaper.