How To Help Hormonal Acne
Hormonal acne can be a debilitating condition, affecting the psyche, confidence and self-worth of women who suffer with it.
Not only is there pain associated with cystic acne, but there is the psychological stress (and sometimes trauma) that follows as these beautiful women look in the mirror and feel disheartened, fed up and exhausted with their skin.
I treat a lot of women (usually under 30) who often have a these two things in common...
A history of OCP (contraceptive pill) use... sometimes in an attempt to try to treat their skin, which may or may not work, and certainly stops working when they come off it!
Painful or irregular periods
Of course, acne isn't always hormonally driven... but it's pretty obvious to see when it is!
To treat hormonal acne, I give at least six months to see positive changes occur.
It simply takes this long to be able to get all the endocrine organs (pituitary, thyroid, adrenals, ovaries) talking to each other again after having been shut down from hormone replacement therapy like the pill.
This beautiful woman started to consult with me in March for her hormonal acne which had been persistent for some time.
She had been on the pill in the past, and already worked with a Naturopath but wasn't able to get to the bottom of healing her skin.
You can see her progress four months into treatment (left picture) and just after our last consultation, coming up to six months into treatment.
Watching these changes makes my heart sing and my body dance!
We are told so much misinformation about our bodies as women.
That having painful periods is normal.
That going on the pill will "regulate our hormones".
That the answer to acne is the pill or antibiotics (or both!!).
That we will grow out of acne.
The pill does not regulate your hormone problems; it puts a pause button on them.
And that picture will return as soon as you stop the pill, often with new problems due to the way the pill affects our hormones.
If more women knew this, then more women would be able to make informed decisions when it comes to serious medication like the pill being used to treat acne.
It can be so heart-breaking to be sold The Answer To Acne under the guise of hormone replacement therapy, only to find that the acne has swiftly returned when you come off the pill (and sometimes isn’t even improved by the pill… which is pointing towards acne that may not be hormonally driven).
I think the most frustrating thing for women is that there’s also no other answer given in the medical system.
When you go back to the doctor for help after your acne returns when you stop the pill, you are just told to renew your prescription of the pill.
I think we deserve better options.
Options that don’t have as many detrimental effects on our bodies and hormones.
Options that aren’t just masking the problem, but can actually help to improve the CAUSE of those problems.
This is why I am so passionate about education when it comes to acne… because the more you know, the better equipped you are to make a decision that works for you.
As a Naturopath, we look at all the factors that may be causing your acne.
This can be
Hormone imbalances
Poor elimination
Poor gut function
+ more
The answer to YOUR acne is going to be different than the answer to somebody else’s acne.
Everyone has different triggers, different patterns, and different presentations of acne.
It is only in your uniqueness that you will find your answers.
And having someone to uncover the driving factors behind your acne is absolutely essential in making long-lasting change to your skin.
If you are struggling with acne, there is light at the end of the tunnel -
sometimes you just need some guidance to find it.
And, remember, your beauty always shines 🌟
Spots or not.