How To Treat Hormonal Acne | Acne School EP03 Health
hi guys welcome back to the school of acne I your health teacher Leah U I know you guys just finished the PE class where you guys learned about the lifestyle skincare habits and what not to do that triggers more acne in this class it's a very important class because we're going to dive deeper into hormonal acne so we're going to learn the clear signs that your acne is hormonal what hormones are and why your hormones impact acne and what to do about it to prevent the hormonal fluctuations so let's [Music] begin so what are hormones hormones are basically little chemical Messengers that float around our body telling different parts of our body what to do so we have grin that tells us we're hungry we have oxytocin that makes us feel loved or close to somebody and we have growth hormone that obviously tells us to grow then we have melatonin which you might recognize from the supplement is that tells us to sleep and to wake up then we have estrogen and testosterone which are basically sex hormones and this is important for us to learn because that actually controls and influence our hormonal acne a lot these are hormones that are in charge of developing our secondary sexual characteristics oh but are there hormones that can impact your skin and cause more acne great question and the answer is yes hormones and acne are def L connected so there are three clear signs that your acne is hormonal let's take a look at your fat first if your acne is mainly around your lower face especially the chin and the jawline we can definitely suspect that your acne is hormonal your flare ups and breakouts occur during the menstrual cycle during your period that's definitely hormonal third if you have other symptoms that you exhibit due to hormonal balance such as rear Cravings or mood swings or you're constantly feeling feeling irritated that's definitely a sign that there's something inside that is imbalanced let's look into the primary hormones that can impact our skin and develop more acne starting with Androgen androgens are male hormones although both biological male and female have them so I have them you have them everyone basically have them so elevated Androgen levels can trigger the sebaceous glad which is basically the oil production site underneath our skin to produce more seum definitely increases the chance of clogged pores and that leads to more breakouts second we have estrogens which is known as female hormones and estrogen is very interesting because it has an opposing effect on the skin it actually reduces the sein production and it has anti-inflammatory properties this is why some people experience clear skin during their pregnancy next we have progesterone which is another female hormone and this is interesting because it does doesn't directly impact the SE production like how Androgen and estrogen does but it can influence the texture of your seum so it can make your seum much you know thicker and waxier making it more likely to clog pores next we're going to talk about cortisol which is our stress hormones now cortisol the more you have it can exacerbate acne by triggering more inflammation in the body and also triggering the sebaceous gland to produce more oil next we have insulin and igf1 first let's talk about insulin this is a hormone that uses carbohydrates as energy so the more bread and rice we eat it'll Spike up this insulin and the insulin will do it stop in the blood and then there's insulin like growth factor which is not actually an insulin but it's more of a growth hormones but they share a very similar molecular structure like androgens igf1 actually promotes for SE production basically these two are linked to male hormones that can actually Spike more seum production what happens if we have an elevated level of insulin and igf1 in our body it actually can trigger Androgen which is our male hormone to spike up the SE production will Skyrocket and then the more Saba we have we learned in the chemistry class that there's a higher chance of lolic acid deficiency in our Sia it actually can cause more lipid peroxidation making our Sia really thick glop and waxy that can be cogenic to clog the pores and what happens then we have acne here's how hormonal imbalances can contribute to acne we learned that a lot of the hormone spikes can Spike up more SE production that can clog the pores eventually and then it can lead to inflammation now that we learned about how hormones contribute to acne let's now learn about why you might have hormonal acne so why do I have hormonal acne the first reason is you might be going through puberty now puberty is a season in life where a lot of our sex hormones fluctuate and we're developing different features so definitely the hormonal changes can influence the spacious gland therefore leading to more acne next we have menstrual cycle so for those who go through a periods monthly your estrogen level and androgen level the balance and the ratio is getting disrupted monthly next we have PC P which stands for polycystic ovar syndrome PCOS is a hormonal disorder or an imbalance that impacts our ovaries and also leads to elevated andren level which then contributes to hormonal acne PCOS can also exhibit other symptoms like irregular periods or menstrual cycle and excessive hair growth next we have pregnancy which can influence your acne it can either improve your acne or worsen the acne menopause which is something that is inevitable and during this time the estrogen and androgen level and the ratio would be fluctuating like crazy leading to more Acne Stress we learned about it cortisol which is a stress hormone that can Spike the seen production and it can definitely lead to more inflammation exacerbating acne and so on also some medications can influence and Trigger more acne such as oral contraceptives hormone replacement therapy steroids so many other medications that can influence and Trigger acne so what should I do to treat my hormonal acne well there's definitely a lot of different ways but first and foremost definitely visit your doctor whether that's a functional medicine doctor your GP to see what the root cause is for your acne next there are foods to avoid that can trigger insulin and androgen spikes that we'll learn in the next class in the meantime there are amazing great hormonal balancing tees that you can incorporate in your daily routine starting with Spearman tea this can lower Androgen next we have dandelion brot tea this is really really great for your liver function that can also balance your hormones licorice root tea that can have an anti-inflammatory and anti-androgenic effect that can help reduce acne last Oneal is turmer TE which contains curcumin which is a compound that has a potent anti-inflammatory properties while this isn't a hormone balancer this can overall reduced inflammation within our body there are some supplements that are also beneficial in balancing our hormones and also manage our acne which includes vitamin D zinc omega-3 prebiotics probiotics and also evening Prim Rose which is actually really really good for regulating your cycle and periods and obviously incorporate more anti-inflammatory foods in your diet that includes Tomatoes olive oil leafy greens fatty fish and berries last pel Le manage your stress that was it for today's class everybody I hope you learned something new I know that was a lot of information so feel free to come back to this class replay this class to study again and also feel free to forward this class to any one of your friends who might be struggling with hormonal acne and the next class we'll be learning about the connection of food and acne so I'm looking forward to that I'll see you there oh
