The Causes Of Hormonal Acne
The concern that hormonal acne is more prevalent could be due to several factors, like women talking about it more, increased environmental toxicity, and the prevalence of xenoestrogens or chemicals that cause hormone imbalances in our environment, Dr. Jolene Brighten, a functional medicine naturopathic medical doctor and the author of Beyond The Pill, tells TZR. We also need to acknowledge the role of processed food and medications that can lead to nutrient depletions, hormone disruption, and poor gut health.
Birth control use is on the rise, and the hormonal changes which occur after discontinuing or starting a birth control pill also cause acne, Dr. Wood says while Dr. Robinson adds that patients with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome , a hormonal disorder, will often present with hormone-related acne, as well.
Basically, this type of acne is multifactorial, as Dr. Brighten says. From diet to lifestyle to birth control and plain old hormonal imbalance, there are multiple causes of hormonal acne and often, more than one is present in each individual patient which makes it hard to pin down a single effective treatment.
If You Suspect Your Acne Is Hormonal Visit A Gynecologist Or Endocrinologist And Test For It
I feel like this is a very no duh thing to post about but, despite struggling with severe acne for 9 years, I had never officially been tested for hormonal acne. Ive also been on this sub for years and have seen a lot of people post about hormonal acne but rarely how they confirmed or diagnosed it. So Ill just post about my experience here.
Over the years, my dermatologist and I have tried to combat acne with a mix of strong topicals and oral medications . Results never lasted. We both concluded my acne was hormonal but didnt do tests to confirm it, just tried another round of oral medication and even stronger topicals.
After the second round failed, I finally visited a gynecologist specializing in endocrinology gynecology, who confirmed that, not only do I have hormonal acne, but I also have PCOS .
I know there are a lot of posts on this sub asking people to confirm whether their acne is fungal, bacterial or hormonal but visiting an expert for confirmation will always provide the most peace of mind. Its one thing to suspect you have an issue based on how well you fit the symptoms online and another to have the paperwork from multiple tests in your hands and verbal confirmation from a doctor specializing in hormones.
How To Get Rid Of Hormonal Acne
OTC medications may work for mild acne. Moderate or severe acne typically require a combination of prescription topical and systemic medications.
Topical medications are those that you put on your skin. Systemic medications are those you take by mouth or shot and work internally, throughout the body.
Don’t Miss: Normal Range For Luteinizing Hormone
Misconceptions Of Acne Causes
Common misconceptions about hormonal acne include:
- Dirty skin causes acne: Washing the skin often helps minimize oil buildup, but hormonal acne still occurs with clean skin.
- Chocolate and greasy foods cause acne: There is not much evidence that chocolate or greasy foods cause acne. However, eating excessive amounts of foods high in sugar and dairy can worsen acne.
Is Your Exercise Routine Giving You Acne
We all expect a sore muscle or two after a heavy workout session, but there’s one side effect of exercise you probably didn’t know about – acne. Yes, that’s right, exercise can cause acne and it can occur all over your body. Dermatologist Dr Anjali Mahto explains why your workout could be causing breakouts.
Reviewed byDr Sarah Jarvis MBE
21-Oct-19·4 mins read
Have you ever noticed you’re getting spots more often than usual when you exercise? Perhaps those spots are in places you wouldn’t expect, like your back, bra line and bum.
It’s quite possible it’s caused by exercise. Specifically, the clothes you wear when working out.
“Acne due to physical activity can be related to repetitive pressure from tight clothing when exercising,” says Dr Mahto, of the British Association of Dermatologists.
“This type of acne can occur anywhere on the body, although it is most common on areas that are more frequently subjected to rubbing, such as the back, shoulders, buttocks and, if a tight hat or hairband is being worn, the forehead.
“Tight fabrics, sweat and heat can block hair follicles and create a warm, moist environment for bacteria to multiply in. This combination of blocked hair follicles and multiplying bacteria can lead to acne forming.”
Recommended Reading: How To Check Testosterone Level At Home
Avoid Touching Your Face With Your Hands
Massick also suggested making a habit of not touching your face with your hands during a workout.
Any bacteria, oils, or dirt that youve touched can get transferred to your skin, contributing to clogged pores and infections.
Sweaty, tight-fighting clothes trap moisture next to your skin, creating the perfect conditions for acne flares, said Massick.
A type of yeast commonly found on the skin called can thrive in the warm, moist conditions created by your workout clothes.
When this yeast overgrows on your skin, it can cause a type of fungal acne to develop.
This type of acne is often misdiagnosed as bacterial acne, leading to improper treatment.
Skin breakouts due to yeast overgrowth require oral antifungal medications.
Tips About Hormonal Acne
- Follow a consistent skin routine every morning and every night using high-quality skincare products. In particular, cleanse and moisturize your skin well if you have signs of hormonal acne.
- As soon as you see signs of hormonal acne, go to a dermatologist to discuss your treatment options for eliminating the problem. The sooner you tackle it the more likely you are to get rid of it.
- Always protect your skin from the suns damaging rays. UV light can make acne much worse, especially because it can darken it and make it more noticeable. Wear sunscreen anytime you go outside and consider a hat.
- Dont overuse a hormone acne treatment on the skin. Most products only require a small amount and using more can do damage like dry out the skin or cause irritation.
- When you use a hormonal acne treatment, apply it very gently to your skin. Do not rub or scrub your skin vigorously, or you could make your acne worse.
- Be careful with the products you use for hormonal acne treatment. Choose high-quality natural skincare products, which do not clog the pores and contain effective ingredients.
Avoid anything that includes chemicals or harsh ingredients, as it will irritate the skin. There are several natural remedies to treat hormonal acne.
Don’t Miss: What Supplements Are Good For Hormonal Acne
A Wee Note On Amenorrhea
As you may have noticed, each of the hormone imbalances listed above can cause absent menstrual cycles or amenorrhea. It is a common misconception that losing your period to an intense fitness regime is normal, to be expected, or our favourite myth: totally fine if you dont want to have a baby right now.
Please know, your period is an essential monthly messenger that gives you valuable insights into your overall health and your hormones. Being of reproductive age and going months or even years without a period is a sign from your body that something is up. Pay attention to your bodies ladies! As mentioned above, with everything your body does, its number one priority is to look after you. Why not do the same in return?
An Eve kit can tell you exactly whats going on and provide recommendations tailored to your individual hormone results and health goals.
Looking for more information? Head over to our FAQs page where you can find out about Eve, what the Eve Hormone Balance Test measures, when the best time to test your hormones is, and more.
Dont forget to check out our blog 5 Common Signs of Hormone Imbalances to see if those physical sensations youre experiencing could be hormone related.
What Is Menopausal Acne
Menopausal acne is when acne appears in women in their 40s and 50s. The cause of menopausal acne is a decrease in estrogen levels or an increase in androgen hormones like testosterone in menopause. Some of the hormonal treatments for menopausal symptoms can also cause hormonal acne. This is especially common in women taking a progestin.
Don’t Miss: How To Stop Being Hormonal
When Does Hormonal Acne Go Away For Men
Hormonal acne is the result of hormone changes, which youll experience throughout your life. While hormonal acne is actually more common in teenage boys than teen girls, most of the time, mens hormonal acne will become significantly less apparent or disappear completely by the time they finish puberty. Still, about 20 percent of adults will continue to experience hormonal acne breakouts.
The good news is that you can reduce your risk of hormonal acne breakouts with a few simple steps.
Adult Acne: How To Get Rid Of Hormonal Acne Naturally
If youre someone who suffers from hormonal acne, chances are youve tried numerous home remedies for acne but may not be getting the results you hoped for. Thats likely because this type of acne can be complicated to treat, considering it occurs for reasons beyond having clogged pores, which is often the case with other forms of acne.
How can you stop hormonal acne? One of the first steps is working on balancing your hormones, such as by eating a nourishing diet, managing stress and getting enough sleep.
The next layer in your treatment plan is using the right types of cleansers and topical products. That means those that help clean and soothe your irritated skin without worsening symptoms.
The good news? Youre not alone if youve developed adult-onset acne, since this affects most people at one point in their lives or another based on a variety of factors.
Recommended Reading: What Is The Recommended Dose Of Melatonin For Adults
Are Some People More Prone To Hormonal Acne Than Others
Although acne affects 80 to 90 percent of teens in the Western world, says Dr. Buka, its more likely to occur in young adults and teenagers. But, that doesnt mean that adults, especially women, are off the hook when it specifically relates to hormonal acne. Dr. Zeichner indicates that it is becoming increasingly more common for women to continue to suffer into adulthood. In some cases, women who have never had acne as a teenager develop it for the first time as an adult.
Hormonal acne typically presents in women over the age of 20 with very tender, red, inflammatory papules around the chin and jawline, notes Dr. Haley. The pimples seem to last forever, and if there is any attempt to squeeze or pick, nothing will come out and only scarring will occur. We typically dont see blackheads and whiteheads all over the T-zone, as in normal teenage acne.
You Breakout Around Your Chin And Jawline
One of the first signs of hormonal acne is where it is on the face.
If youre noticing bumps on your chin and jawline, as well as other areas on your lower face it might be hormonal acne.
This type of acne is more common in women than men, but the reason why isnt exactly known. Over-producing oil is suspected to play a role.
This is because your bodys hormones are stimulating the oil glands located on your chin. This causes the release of excess oil which builds up and causes blackheads.
Although the chin and jawline are the most common places for hormonal acne, they can also appear on your cheek and along your neck.
Also Check: How To Correct Hormonal Imbalance
What Causes Hormonal Acne: 8 Lifestyle Changes And Natural Treatments For Hormonal Acne
Changing your lifestyle habits cant fix severe acne cases. However, making some lifestyle and habit changes can reduce moderate acne caused by hormones. You can:
Treatment Of Female Adult Acne
-
1. General issues
Most dermatological experts suggest a stepwise approach to female adult acne treatment that utilizes different drugs depending on the severity and the type of the individuals acne lesions . Therefore, a careful scoring of acne before treating these patients is essential.
The general principles of this stepwise approach are simple: topical agents for mild forms of acne topical agents plus an oral antibiotic or hormonal therapy for moderate forms of acne topical agents, oral antibiotics and hormonal therapy, or an oral retinoid in severe forms of acne.
The choice of topical agents depends on the type of acne, comedonal or inflammatory, as well as its severity. Benzoyl peroxide and topical antibiotics target inflammatory lesions, whereas adapalene, tretinoin, and tazarotene are retinoids that target comedones. Azelaic acid targets both.
In severe female adult acne, oral retinoids are often the treatment of choice, but teratogenicity and other possible side effects should be carefully considered.
In selected patients, radiofrequency, laser, and light treatments are available but cost and evidence for their long-term efficacy are scant.
-
2. Treatment of adult acne in hyperandrogenic women
The American Academy of Dermatology includes oral estroprogestin or antiandrogen therapy as second-line treatment in women with moderate or severe adult acne who do not respond to topical and antibiotic therapy , but independently of androgen levels .
Recommended Reading: How Much Melatonin Can I Safely Take
Runners Crossfitters And Hiit Enthusiasts Beware
While running, Crossfit and HIIT training can make us feel amazing in small doses due to the dopamine and endorphin hits we get from these types of exercise, the intensity of this training can wreak havoc on our hormones if we are doing it more often than our bodies can handle.
Consider this, each time you push your body to its limit with harsh movements such as burpees, sprints and squat jumps that send your heart rate through the roof a stress response is triggered inside your body .
If you are well slept, fed, hydrated and generally pretty healthy with low stress levels, this can definitely be a positive thing. What we want to avoid is adding more stress to a body that is already stressed, and experiencing negative effects such as hormone imbalance and HPA-axis dysfunction.
Think of exercise as a tool to balance your stress levels. Not to add to them.
When exercise becomes excessive, our bodies lose their ability to recover and produce adequate energy.
What Are The Symptoms Of Hormonal Acne
For teenagers, hormonal acne breakouts in teenage girls will often appear in the same places as the typical teen acne, forehead, cheeks around the mouth, and chin.
In adult women, hormonal acne is located in different areas, on the lower half of the face, around the mouth, chin, and lower jawline. Though the chin and jawline are the most common locations for hormonal acne, pimples can also appear on the face and neck sides.
Like teen acne, hormonal acne will include (comedones( blackheads and whiteheads, papules, pustules, a cyst. Many women with hormonal acne will also have under-skin bumps = cysts that are not red and are not seen on the skins surface.
You May Like: How To Buy Testosterone Injections Online
Also Check: What To Do To Regulate Hormones
How Exercise Affects Your Skin
The good news is, cardiovascular exercises like running and aerobics pump oxygenated blood around our bodies. This causes our blood vessels to dilate, giving skin a plumped, healthy glow. The bad news is, those same aerobic exercises over time can cause decreased elasticity and loosening of the skin on the face, neck and rest of the body, according to Barrecore founder Niki Rein.
So if ageing skin is your biggest concern, she suggests to Stick with weight-bearing exercises and keep high-intensity training to short 20 second bursts, to keep skin taut and help maintain precious, skin-firming elastin.
Answer To: Does Workout And Exercise Cause Pimples
Hello Morten
Let me start by saying that it is really cool that you exercise! And when you have a focus on nurturing your body with exercise! It will definitely get you, your body and health will benefit from it now and well into the future.
In relation to your question about whether exercise and workout gives pimples, its a really good question! And I would be happy to try to answer it!
There is in fact a great many, who feel that they get more pimples after they have trained, exercised, in sports or strength training. But is it really the exercise it self that cause you to get pimples?
Or, as many also ask me: Can you get pimples of sweat?
It would be pretty cheesy if it were like that. Especially when there is just so enormously much focus on getting a lot of exercise and sports just to be good to ourselves and take care of our health.
However, it is unfortunately the case that strength training can increase the appearance of pimples. Just like all other exercise, sports and athletics can cause pimples. In what follows I will try to dwell on what you can do to prevent pimples, acne and blemished skin when you exercise. Acne and pimples should in no way and never ever keep you from exercising. By following my advice below and keep your skin clean, you can easily avoid pimples caused by training.
I Repeat!
Read Also: Can Hormones Cause Weight Gain