Acne & Your Hormones
This week on insta, I went live and talked about acne. I get lots of acne questions. Women don't want to come off birth control because they are scared their acne will come back full force or they get put on it because their acne is full force. I get it, acne sucks-it's embarrassing, its painful, its annoying.
My acne started when i was younger although I didst even realize it then. I did not have acne on my face, I had acne on my back and it made me feel embarrassed and gross. I also hyper-pigment with any skin situation. I'm a picker so of course my back was broken out and scarred-it bothered me- like a lot. I hated summer, I hated wearing tank-tops that didn't cover it.
I finally went to a dermatologist, after trying all the over counter shit at Target. I tried everything, seriously, all of it. Per u-shhh the dermatologist put me on topical, I don't remember exactly what it was. I remember one was a wash and the other was a cream to put on after the shower. Let's be honest neither one of those medications worked, not at all. I can say had someone pulled me aside and said "hey girl-let's fix that gut of yours and see what happens!" I would have been ecstatic, I would have saved so much internal turmoil.
Fast forward to two or three years later and I was on an assignment in Southern California. My acne had come and gone- the scars had started to heal and i was kinda excited i thought i had outgrown it. I was back to eating better (and I was paying more attention to my body-I was about to pull my own IUD out) and I was working out four days a week and putting away a shit ton of whey protein-gainz bro!
I then had an ah-ha moment and was like wait...wtf...so I decided to stop the whey (since my acne had returned in full force). I also was like fine, I'll stop dairy altogether. Who woulda thought that would do the trick.
So let's talk acne and some of the different types and potential causes.
Hormonal
Obviously caused from an imbalance in your hormones. Androgen's and insulin stimulate skin growth and sebum production. Insulin increases androgen (testosterone) activity. It's important to pay attention to your acne pattern. So your testosterone in relation to your estrogen/progesterone is off. This acne usually appears around your jaw line and shows ups around your period.
Inflammatory
Your body is widly inflamed, so your gut needs some healing. Our gut really does control a lot of what our skin does. I would say cut out dairy for 6-8 weeks and see what happens and then you can cut gluten after you're done with removing the dairy. Also removing refinded sugar from your diet or at least decreasing your consumption. This acne shows up on your back, shoulders, chest.
Infection
We have bacteria on our skin and it can be a cause of some acne. So I was told to shower immediately after the gym because they thought that was the reason for my acne. I clearly didn't do that. I was the gross kid that would go to the grocery store after I worked out.
Irritation
This would be things rubbing on our skin, our sports bras, hats we wear, skin care- things like that.
So I would pay attention to your acne, figure out when it occurs, the pattern and what you're putting on and in your body.
Let me know if you have any questions!!
