Raise your hand if you have ever been victimized by hormones! If you raised your hand keep reading, if not stop lying. Seriously though, they affect everyone in so many ways. Hormone imbalances cause acne, bone loss, and our mood. Hello PMS… I’ve been so lucky to be affected in all 3 ways. I have a hormone imbalance called primary ovarian failure syndrome which affects my bone density, and adrenal glands. Since my adrenal glands are affected that in turn causes my skin to breakout with hormonal acne. When you are afflicted with hormonal acne, it’s important to remember that you must treat the body on the inside and the outside. You can throw all the skincare products you have in your cabinet onto your skin but if the problem is not treated internally, you’re only solving half of the problem.
So how can you treat hormonal acne? Often treatment comes down to 2 prescriptions you get from a dermatologist. The 1st being the OG balancer, birth control. Its often recommended to teenage acne sufferers but it does obviously have other uses, and the side effects should always be discussed. 2nd up we have spironolactone, an androgen blocker. Androgens are the hormones responsible for causing acne. Spironolactone has gained popularity over the years as an acne fighting medication, but it can take a while to find that sweet spot dose specific to you. While its great at balancing aldosterone, it’s also pretty great at raising potassium levels which isn’t always a good thing. Its also a diuretic which will cause the user to have to use the bathroom more frequently.
Another way you can help reduce your hormonal acne is through diet. It’s true that what you eat shows on the outside. While many say chocolate does not cause you to breakout I beg to differ. If you have a hormone imbalance that is not in the average range, then you would probably benefit from eating it sparingly. Foods really can affect our hormones sadly. When we eat high glycemic intake foods such as white rice, fried foods, and refined sugars our androgen levels and insulin levels increase. Foods can also cause a surge in estrogen levels too. For example, anything with soy, or added hormones such as dairy milk.
A fun way to figure out if your diet is causing you to breakout, you can try keeping a food journal. This is how I found out that dairy milk makes me breakout and causes stomach upset. While journaling your diet, make sure you only eliminate one thing in your diet at a time, so you can keep track of what is or isn’t causing acne flare-ups.
Please talk to your doctors if you have any skin or other health concerns.