We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Alaina Vargas. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Alaina below.

Alaina, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.

I suffered from eczema, and conventional medicine wasn’t helping. I was on the strongest steroids possible, without relief. I settled on the fact that I would always have itchy hands and suffer from eczema. Then my daughter was born, and when she was 6 months old, she developed severe eczema. I knew I couldn’t let her suffer the way that I had. That’s when I started looking for the root causes and discovered the remarkable field of functional medicine, where the root causes of health issues are found and addressed. It turns out that there is a root cause of eczema, and it stems from gut dysbiosis. Through gut health testing, natural treatments with herbs and supplements, and diet and lifestyle modification, my daughter and I are both now eczema-free. 

I learned firsthand that conventional medicine is great at putting “band-aids” on health issues, but that there are other options. This motivated me to start my own holistic dermatology practice and help other children with their skin issues from a root-cause approach to provide lasting relief! 

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Children in the U.S. are the sickest they’ve ever been in history, with their life expectancy now less than that of their parents. About fifty percent of children have at least one chronic illness, one in five now has eczema, autoimmune diseases are on the rise, and more.

Children who move from another country, into the United States, are more likely to develop eczema after 10 years of residing here. We know there’s a problem- a problem with our food, our lifestyles, our medicine. Where are the healthcare professionals that are sounding the alarms? That’s why I’m here and why I do what I do.

I’ve been in healthcare for over 15 years. I’ve been a nurse for over a decade, and a pediatric nurse practitioner for six years. I have always worked in pediatrics. I graduated with my Master’s of Science in Nursing from the University of Colorado.

Last year, I opened up an integrative pediatric dermatology clinic that treats the root causes of common skin conditions in children. Using gut health testing, herbs and supplements are my main modalities for healing. What I love about what I do is that I don’t JUST treat skin conditions; it’s a whole body approach! I work with parents to incorporate diet and lifestyle modifications for long-term, lasting relief.

The work I do is so rewarding, and I love educating families on how to have healthier children. I currently see patients via telehealth in Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico, but I am doing an online course to be able to reach all who need these sorts of services across the entire US.

If you could go back, would you choose the same profession, specialty, etc.?

Yes! My only regret is not finding functional medicine sooner. We do not receive any holistic sort of training in medical school, so the learning curve was steep and I was impressed by how complex and robust the field is. I have a lot more respect for this speciality than I did coming out of my conventional training.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

There are several ways of thinking that I corrected through my functional medicine training. The first is that food really is medicine. What we put in our bodies- what we nourish ourselves with makes all the difference, even for our mental health.

Second is the profound ability that the body has to heal itself, when it is given the right environment and nutrition. I was fascinated to learn about the “Placebo Effect” and how powerful the mind can be!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://naturalwaypediatricdermatology.com
• Instagram: @naturalwaypediatricdermatology
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/naturalwaypedsdermatology
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alaina-vargas-84494131a/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/natural-way-pediatric-dermatology-greenwood-village

Image Credits

Shannon Steinacker Photography