Many individuals are seeking the support of a naturopath for acne management, and it’s a component of my practice I’m very passionate about, as I utilised naturopathic medicine to resolve my own hormonal acne. When seeking answers as to how to treat acne naturally we first need to understand the drivers of acne and how they relate to your individual experience with this common skin concern.
Hormonal balance is a huge factor in acne management, particularly with its growing prevalence through the 20’s, 30’s, 40’s and even 50’s for many women and individuals with uteruses in times of hormonal shifts. Unfortunately, medications like the oral contraceptive and spironolactone cannot balance hormones and only temporarily suppress their function, so many individuals find their acne can be worsened after withdrawing from an androgen suppressing synthetic estrogen or progestin birth control or spironolactone. This issue is referred to as post pill acne and it accounts for a large proportion of adult acne I see in clinical practice. Some individuals also experience hormonal acne due to low dose birth control containing synthetic forms of progesterone, these mimic androgens that cause breakouts and include the mini pill or devices such as Mirena, Kyleena and Implanon. Genetics play a role in hormonal acne susceptibility, so some may tolerate these medications better than others and some of us are generally more susceptible to hormonal acne development due to a family history.
A thorough naturopathic intake will be able to assess if you are experiencing hormonal acne and the drivers of your personal hormonal acne picture. Some obvious signs of these like cyclical flares in your skin around ovulation and pre-period, chin and jawline cystic acne or a PCOS diagnosis all indicate that hormones, mainly androgen excess is a significant part of your acne progression, and hormonal balance tools would be an element an experienced naturopath for acne would utilise.
Gut Health and Other Focus Area for Acne
When a skin naturopath is assessing how to treat acne naturally an individual whether it’s hormonal acne or not the focus is on assessing the elements of the gut skin access. These considerations include inflammation and toxins generated from gut microbiome imbalances, loss of gut lining, structural integrity and food reactions. Insulin resistance and blood sugar control as well as the individuals stress adaptation and mental health elements are all big focus areas to really bring about acne resolution and hormone balance, as these are all areas that feed into further hormonal imbalance and hormonal acne. Naturopathic treatment of acne especially hormonal acne is not a one size fits all strategy and treatment is based off your individual picture of imbalance. Hormonal acne is not caused by the same hormonal imbalance in each individual so treatment should be tailored to specific hormone and broader health imbalances.
Dietary Adjustments for Acne Resolution
If you do nothing else for your acne remove avoid dietary A1 protein cow dairy products. Extensive research published by the national library of medicine has shown a clear link between cow dairy product consumption and acne. This is because proteins in cow dairy increase insulin like growth factor which increases androgens and acne formation in susceptible individuals.
Avoiding processed sugar is important for hormonal acne and acne in general, consuming sugar regularly or high glycaemic index foods increases insulin like growth factor and then intern androgen production. Simple sugars can also shift the microbiome in the gut and the skin towards a more acne promoting environment.
Nutritional Supplements for Acne
Omega-3
High strength clean fish oil with plenty of the EPA component of omega-3 (not algae or vegan sources unfortunately), works well to keep the lipids in our skin anti-inflammatory and anti-clogging, it’s a defence against the skin level consequences of elevated androgens and a safe effective first line approach for acne management.
Zinc
This versatile mineral has an antiandrogen effect on one of the more negative androgens we can produce and prevents acne on the skin level by supporting healthy skin immune function and supporting the skins natural exfoliating mechanism which prevents dead skin cells from clogging pores and forming acne lesions.
Myo-inositol
This thoroughly researched nutrient is great for hormonal balance and hormonal acne, as it promotes ovulation and therefore our natural antiandrogen hormone progesterone. Inositol also increases insulin sensitivity and balance and lowers androgens.
Herbal Allies for Acne Management
Antiandrogenic Herbal Medicine
There are many anti-androgen herbs such as Saw Palmetto and Nettle root that can be utilised in natural hormonal acne treatment. The herbal medicines that will be best for your hormonal acne depend on what androgens you are over producing personally, and the dosing depends on your levels. Also, estrogen and progesterone levels help to indicate which herbal medicines are appropriate and assessing would be done on an individual basis for best results.
Berberine
Berberine a plant based active from various herbal medicines such as Coptis and Golden Seal, can be useful in hormonal acne, where an individual has issues with blood sugar regulation and gut microbiome imbalance. Berberine carries some contraindications and can course die off reactions in individuals who have gut health issue and haven’t been prepped to use it. So for these reasons it’s best to work with a practitioner, as to appropriately use Berberine and avoid further inflammation spikes from bacterial die off.
Chaste Tee or Vitex
Chaste tree or vitex is useful in individuals who have low progesterone and do not experience PCOS with an LH surge. Progesterone has anti-androgen action that benefits some people’s acne, so is most useful if you know it is appropriate for your hormone imbalance picture.
Advantages of Choosing Naturopathy for Acne
Choosing naturopathy for acne, hormonal acne and hormonal balance treatment allows you to understand and target the root causes of your acne with a holistic approach. Eliminating your personal acne drivers enables you to get out of the cycle of acne band-aid treatment and relapse, while supporting your body to heal on a broader scale.
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