Hormonal Acne. What is it?

Acne comes in all shapes and forms, but for many, it finds its home intertwined within the ups and downs of the menstrual cycle. We call this type of acne hormonal acne, as hormonal fluctuations are at the root. If you’ve noticed pimples surface each month, at specific times in your cycle, and located in specific places – hormones might be just the thing that is causing your
acne.

Let’s break it down a little further.

Hormonal Acne Causes: 

When it comes to what’s causing this type of acne, the title tells all. Hormonal acne is driven by the ebbs and flows of hormones throughout the cycle, but it goes deeper than that. Your liver is responsible for hormone metabolism and ridding the body of toxins, so it makes sense that if your liver health is not optimal, it’s more difficult for your body to effectively balance hormones,
potentially leading to hormonal fluctuations that can trigger these acne breakouts. More to this, when the liver isn’t functioning as well as it could, we get an accumulation of excess hormones such as estrogen & progesterone which may stimulate the sebaceous glands to produce more oil, leading to acne.

Where is Hormonal Acne located?

We commonly see pimples present in specific places when working with hormonal acne.
Pimples on chin, forehead, cheeks, around mouth, and jawline are areas that are most often
seen in hormonal acne.

Hormonal Acne treatment options

How do we treat it? First and foremost, it’s so important to make sure your diet is providing you with the best opportunity for success. This includes eliminating pro-inflammatory foods such as A1 Cows milk, gluten, processed foods, refined sugars and seed oils, to name a few. As well as this, it’s so important to load up on meals that cover lots of fresh fruit and veggies from all colours of the rainbow. The key is to ensure you’re getting a diet rich in fibre from wholefoods, as well as getting enough lean protein into your diet.

Another really simple yet effective tip is your water intake – ensure you’re getting at least 2L of filtered water daily, and even more when you’re exercising. This is crucial for skin health as it helps to flush out toxins from the body and helps to hydrate the skin.

If you’ve noticed pimples arise at certain times throughout your cycle and feel like nothing seems to be working, book in with one of our expert Naturopaths to dive a little deeper into what could be going on under the surface. Give us a call on 4961 4075, or book online here.