How I Cured My Hormonal Acne

Acne... my arch nemesis! But here's how I overcame it.

If you struggle with acne, I'm sure you can relate. It sucks. And what sucks worse is hearing doctors tell you "there's no cure for acne."

Instead, they give you prescription after prescription in hopes that something will mask the symptoms and hide your acne long enough... until it comes back.

But I'm not here to bash the doctors' approach to acne. I'm here to tell you that while there may not be a "cure" per se... I sure do feel cured.

And you can too.

Acne can result from many things:

• Hormones

• Bacteria

• Allergies and food sensitivities

• Too much oil production (usually from hormones)

• Sluggish or unhealthy liver

• And more!

So where do you start?

While battling my acne, I approached it from ALL angles, with both natural and medical treatments. Everything made it a little better, but I still couldn't solve it.

Truth was, I have hormonal acne, specifically estrogen dominance  (too much estrogen, not enough progesterone, too much testosterone).

So no matter how many antibiotics I took, how many times I used Accutane, how much spironolactone I used (although it helped), how many face washes, Benzoyl Peroxide, Salicylic Acid, etc etc etc that I tried, I was never addressing the excess, toxic estrogen, so the acne just wouldn't resolve.

Basic bloodwork showed my numbers to be normal. But when I dug deeper, I finally discovered that my estrogen was breaking down to too much of the "toxic" estrogen. Take a look at the diagram below. Top row is what you would see from a basic lab. Looks within normal range, right? But take a look at how out of range it becomes further down the metabolic pathway.

YET... almost every doctor's fist advice for someone with acne is birth control. Meaning, MORE estrogen. Worst idea ever for someone like me! 

Current day: ALL I use are a few supplements, am careful with my food choices and am grateful and confident enough to say that I cured my acne!

If you struggle with hormonal acne, keep reading.

How do I know if my acne is hormonal?

• usually worse at certain times of your cycle (for women)

• often appears on the lower face (chin, jawline, cheeks)

• you've tried everything else and you're still stuck

Here's what to do:

• Add DIM, Saw Palmetto, and Progesterone Cream to your supplement list (click here). This is for the hormones. Trust me, they're life saving, helping to get rid of excess, toxic estrogens and lower high DHT levels that cause excess oil production and unwanted hair growth (or hair loss on your head, especially for men).

• Eliminate gluten, dairy and sugar from your diet (fruit is ok). This will help to reduce inflammation and potential food allergens. You could also add a Digestive Enzyme and Probiotic to your supplement list. This promotes gut healing and a healthy balance between the good and bad bacteria in your gut. Without a healthy gut, skin health and overall health will suffer. Cannot stress enough the importance of a healthy gut.

• Eat a ton of veggies (fiber helps eliminate estrogen), especially broccoli, asparagus, bok choy and other cruciferous veggies (naturally high in DIM).

• Cook with garlic (helps kill bad bacteria in the gut and feeds the good bacteria).

• Add ground flax seeds to smoothies or oatmeal (helps eliminate estrogen).

• Drink lots of water, dandelion and spearmint tea. Start your day with lemon water and drink dandelion and spearmint tea daily. Dandelion is great for your liver and spearmint helps lower DHT.

• Use a simple, natural face wash. I LOVE the RE9 or AgeWell line from Arbonne. Don't use anything with fragrances and a bunch of funky fillers. And don't be afraid to moisturize.

• If you suffer from coarse, dark hair growth on your face (especially if you have PCOS), you could try laser hair removal. Without the thick hair follicles occupying your pores, there's less chance of the pores becoming clogged and causing acne.

Not too hard, right? A healthy, natural and fresh diet, DIM, Saw Palmetto, water and tea...

and you can kiss your acne goodbye!

Enjoy your pimple popping while it lasts, because the end of popping is near!

Keep me posted.

Steph