- Do you get deep, painful and red pimples on your jaw area and sometimes your chin?
- Does your skin seem more sensitive, inflamed, and reactive before your period?
- Does your acne get worse in the second half of your monthly cycle?
If the answer is “Yes” to at least one of the questions, it is very possible that your hormones are out of balance.
Treating acne, especially if it is related to a hormonal imbalance, is entirely an inside job and requires a permanent change in habits.
Hormonal acne has fairly obvious characteristics – deep, red and painful cysts that appear mostly on the jaw, chin and around the mouth. Usually, the deterioration of the skin corresponds to the monthly cycle.
Not always, but in most cases, pimples initially appeared in other areas of the face – forehead, cheeks, T-zone. If the treatment in this early phase of acne was mainly targeting the external manifestation (skin and pimples) or was suppressive (birth control pills, antibiotics, roaccutane), without looking for the root causes and without treating the acne fundamentally and holistically, the pimples have gradually started to appear in the area of the jaw (chin and around the mouth).
Hormonal acne could be caused by:
A strong stress factor – usually in this case, pimples directly affect the jaw area. In order to manage the condition, it is key to get out of the stressful situation, to nourish the body, to rest the mind, and this is often enough for the acne to disappear without further complications, as it appeared.
A much more common situation is that hormonal acne is the result of long-term inflammation in the body, which has gradually led to a hormonal imbalance.
Heredity is an additional factor that contributes to the easier unlocking of the problem.
Case from practice:
I had a client of mine who was suffering from hormonal acne at her last consultation. When she first came in the month of June 2020, she had acne on her face, back and décolletage since her teenage years. Now she is 34 years old. Imagine how much time that is. She has been on birth control pills for more than 5 years and during this period the pimples have almost disappeared. Since stopping the pills, the acne has returned in full force. She also shared that she felt anxious and nervous, tired for no reason, and woke up in the morning feeling sleep deprived and with no energy. She had frequent unpleasant headaches and palpitations.
She completed the Holistic Anti-Acne Program in December 2020 – her skin is unrecognizable. The headaches, palpitations, anxiety are all a thing of the past and she says she feels much more relaxed and energetic.
Unfortunately, birth control pills are unable to cure your acne. They only suppress sebum production. As soon as you stop taking them (it is not possible to take them forever) the problems you had before come back with even greater force.
Many women live with hormonal acne for years and never stop looking for a way to cure it. This type of acne flares up monthly, weekly, sometimes even daily. It brings a lot of suffering and pain – physical and mental. You can’t put up with hormonal acne. And you continue going from doctor to doctor for years in the hope that it will somehow be healed.
Ask yourself this key question: If the classic methods to cure acne were effective, why are there more and more women who for years (sometimes decades) cannot achieve lasting relief from acne? Why have you, despite visiting numerous specialists, still not found a permanent solution?
How to treat hormonal acne?
Acne caused by hormonal imbalance is a really long topic, but let’s start with this.
Which hormones cause acne?
The basis of hormonal acne is male sex hormones, or the so-called androgens. The more specific culprit is the hormone dihydrotestosterone (DHT). DHT stimulates the sebaceous glands to produce more sebum in the skin pores, which is a major prerequisite for acne formation.
High levels of androgens are not usually characteristic of women. However, when the levels of these hormones increase, for one reason or another, our body instantly reacts to this change and one of the symptoms is acne.
What causes androgen hormone levels to rise?
Usually, a combination of the following unfavorable factors creates perfect conditions for the appearance of hormonal acne:
1. Decreased insulin sensitivity
Excess insulin increases androgenic activity and causes acne.
2. Impaired detoxification
The liver is the purifying station of the body, it regulates the balance of sex hormones, thyroid hormones, adrenal hormones. If the liver is overloaded and unable to fulfill its role, the balance of hormones will sooner or later be disturbed.
3. Inflammation in the intestines
Excessive use of oral antibiotics and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, chronic stress including systemic sleep deprivation, and an unbalanced diet can cause hormonal imbalance.
4. Estrogen dominance
Lower levels of the hormone progesterone relative to the hormone estradiol. Low levels of progesterone increase the effect of androgens on the sebaceous glands through increased activity of the enzyme 5-alpha reductase, which converts testosterone to its active metabolite DHT.
I’m sure you’ll be interested to learn why during pregnancy, some women’s skin clears up completely.
5. High prolactin levels
Prolactin levels increase mainly with stress, birth control pills, PCOS, low thyroid function. High levels of prolactin suppress ovulation and increase androgenic activity of the adrenal glands, which contribute to the rapid formation of acne pimples.
6. Stress
When we experience emotional stress (for example, we have not come to terms with the breakup with our partner or we have lost a loved one) or we are under constant mental tension (we work tirelessly on intellectual work or constantly worry about household problems) or we are physically exhausted (we work out as if this is our last session or we often lack sleep), the hormone cortisol is intensively released from our adrenal glands. A complex cascade of hormonal reactions is triggered that increases oiliness in the skin and acne.
There is ample scientific evidence for the above reasons, but unfortunately they are still not taken into account in the standard and commonly accepted treatment of acne, which unfortunately leads many women into a vicious cycle of trial, error and subsequent disappointment.
How do I regulate the levels of androgen hormones in my body?
The answer is in balancing the aforementioned causes that underlie elevated androgen levels.
Here are some great tips that will slowly but surely help you overcome the underlying causes of acne and restore normal androgen levels in your body:
1. Stop the sugar and desserts
Some of my clients have told me that this will be the hardest change for them because they cannot live without sweets and desserts and literally every day sugar is on their menu.
But think about it, is eating sweets and cakes more important to you than having clear skin and having the confidence and self-esteem that you currently lack?
Think about what is more important to you: eating sweets daily or having clean and pimple-free skin? Because you can’t have both!
Indeed, sugar addiction is a reality for many ladies with acne and, without exaggeration, you need a plan and strategy to minimize eating sugar.
2. Avoid toxins
Consume clean food. Аim for а menu based on seasonal ingredients, consume antibiotic and hormone-free meat (especially chicken), focus on home-made food vs pre-made packaged meals.
3. Support your liver and detoxify your body
You can use herbs such as milk thistle, dandelion and burdock.
4. Eat a variety of vegetables, especially cruciferous vegetables
They contain phytonutrients that help detoxify and eliminate excess hormones from your body.
5. Heal your gut
Restoring your gut and balancing your microbiome and hormones usually takes time and patience, but it could not only put your acne in the past for good, it could literally change your life.
6. Reduce daily stress
Chronic stress is at the root of our problems and in most cases we don’t even realize it.
Know that for at least 3 months, your body needs to maintain an environment of minimal inflammation for your hormones to begin to balance.
Many of the women I work with suffer from hormonal acne. I know the story of each one of them and I know what they’ve been through . And it is precisely these girls who are most committed to the Holistic Anti-Acne Program, seeing a real opportunity to break out of this terrible vicious circle.
The only way to get your hormones back in balance and overcome your hormonal acne once and for all is to “roll up your sleeves” and rediscover your own health. I know it’s not an easy task, but it’s the only real solution entirely in your hands!
Sources used:
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4565837/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3846536/
- https://insulinresistance.org/index.php/jir/article/view/50/184
- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236338565_Role_of_insulin_resistance_and_diet_in_acne
- https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/86/1/107/4633089
- https://www.maturitas.org/article/S0378-5122(17)30650-3/pdf
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28778332/
- https://ovarianresearch.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13048-020-00670-3
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3079864/
