Chronic Face and Back Acne

[Airblade]

Hey everyone,

For all my life I have had pretty severe face and back acne (since about, 12 or so). It got extremely bad when I was through high school and then died down a bit as I entered university. In university I got fed up with the face acne and did the regime provided on acne.org which helped my face acne. However, after doing it for a year or so I got fed up with the time it took, and the negative consequences of the benzoyl peroxide staining my clothes.

I am now looking at holistic ways to cure my acne, specifically through diet. Right now I have cut out dairy and gluten (gluten for 1 month, dairy for 2 months) and this has only done very little to cure the acne. I still have a significant amount of acne, more so on my back (my back is literally covered in it). The annoying thing is I have an absolute crazy amount of oil on my face.

My daily diet nowdays consists of:

Breakfast: Green Smoothie (2 bananas, frozen berries, a ton of kale or spinach)

Lunch: Brown Rice Pasta (with tomatoe sauce, and 2 or 3 vegetables, garlic and onion)

Dinner: Brown Rice, chicken (I very rarely eat meat like once every 2 weeks or so... mostly because I am a poor student ), peas, lentils, etc... all very healthy foods. I eat huge green leaf salads often also.

Snacks: Fruits and Nuts

I eat no refined sugar, no processed foods, no gluten, and no dairy... and I still haven't really seen an improvement in my acne. It is very frustrating...

The only things I can think of to help (since I think my diet is pretty clean) are:

Liver flushes (I used to eat a lot of grain and a moderate amount of dairy... maybe my liver needs a flush from the years of abuse?)
Daily Epsom Salt Bathes
Colonic or Enemas
(these three things I have not tried)

Does anyone have any suggestions? This acne is really playing a role in my low self confidence so any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks everyone!

[Plato]

Go to a doctor. If it's bad you'll be referred to a dermatologist and get accutane, which is THE ONLY CURE to acne. There are four possible causes of acne. Accutane gets them all. This diet stuff... well...

[ellie]

I would go to a dr too. It sounds like your producing way too much oil. Are you a male or female. If you are a female it may have something to do with overactive thyroid????

Do you drink heaps of water?

[bluemoon]

I notice that mine gets worse when I eat a high GI diet (starchy stuff, sugars, etc). I heard that it triggered insulin production, which makes you produce more oil/sebum, which gets clogged, etc. You are eating very healthily, but some very healthy things have a high GI. Check it out if you're open to it.

Accutane always seemed kind of scary to me, it helps people with bad acne but it also stresses out your liver. I have a friend with acne who's been going to a derm for years, and all she's developed is extra sensitive skin and desperation, because something will work for a few months and then it won't.

Anyways, try the GI thing, try some more tweaking with your diet. What works for me might not work for you, but try and find your triggers and go from there.

[Airblade]

Originally Posted by bluemoon

I notice that mine gets worse when I eat a high GI diet (starchy stuff, sugars, etc). I heard that it triggered insulin production, which makes you produce more oil/sebum, which gets clogged, etc. You are eating very healthily, but some very healthy things have a high GI. Check it out if you're open to it.

Accutane always seemed kind of scary to me, it helps people with bad acne but it also stresses out your liver. I have a friend with acne who's been going to a derm for years, and all she's developed is extra sensitive skin and desperation, because something will work for a few months and then it won't.

Anyways, try the GI thing, try some more tweaking with your diet. What works for me might not work for you, but try and find your triggers and go from there.

I'll check out the whole GI index, but it seems that I eat foods mainly with a low GI index.

As for accutane, I have ruled that out simply because of all the negative side effects I have heard. It is just not worth the risk.

I will start drinking some more water though. I drink a fair amount, but not enough as I should be. I guess, I'll just continue eating healthly and see where it leads me...

[DerekH]

Accutane does not cure acne. Maybe it has worked for you but not for my brother and I.

We've both been on two doses of that horrendous stuff. It does clear it up but my god its not worth it. My brother still uses Proactiv but he still will get pimples at 25.

I've been using clinique face supplies for about 6 months now and it is keeping it in check but I will also work on my diet since that has to be a main contributor.

Dermatologists will just prescribe a bunch of drugs, topical, anti biotics and other stuff.

[eruso]

Check this thread
How to Cure Your Acne

Hope that helps.

[Plato]

There's loads of accutane scare stories. I preferred to have dry lips for 5 months and clear skin than have a diseased wound for a face and back. It's up to you, of course. Just sayin'...

[Scipio]

I suffered from acne for years. I saw dermatologists (who generally are not aware of the impact of diet on acne) and doctors. I went on tetracycline and on accutane. Eventually, my acne would always come back.

I have finally eliminated my acne once and for all, and it is without a drug cure. I suggest you go to Acne Cure - The Dietary Cure for Acne is a natural, acne free diet and buy the E-book or paperback. You probably spend tonnes of money on washes, creams, etc, to get rid of your acne with dismal results, so why not try something that has complete eliminated acne in clinical trials.

Yes, there are clinical trials (recent ones) reporting that diet as a cure for acne. It's only a short matter of time before it becomes common knowledge in the dermatological community.

The book also teaches you the pathogenesis of acne, so you understand what actually causes acne, and how the diet intervenes in the proximal causes of acne. I can explain the science here if anyone is interested.

As for your sample diet, chuck the brown rice and replace it with some healthy, fatty salmon and steamed vegetables. Instead of having fruits that are high in sugar and on the glycemic index like bananas for breakfast, switch to a couple of poached Omega-3 eggs, and have some grapefruit. Get rid of tomato sauce, which has refined sugar in it, and use crushed tomatoes. Get rid of peas, lentils, etc as they contain something that directly causes acne as well. Start supplementing with fish oil, flax oil, cooking with only olive oil and canola oil. Leave all other oils and nuts out of your diet except for walnuts and macadamia nuts. You will see why when you read the book, but more than likely your omega 3:6 ratio is out of balance which aggravates your acne. You should eliminate all grains, everything from the lentil family, and almost everything introduced into the human diet after the agricultural revolution 5000 years ago.

If anyone has any questions behind the science of acne, or wants to know the reasoning behind my recommendations at all, post in this thread or start another thread and PM me to post there publicly.

[Scipio]

Originally Posted by DerekH

Accutane does not cure acne. Maybe it has worked for you but not for my brother and I.

We've both been on two doses of that horrendous stuff. It does clear it up but my god its not worth it. My brother still uses Proactiv but he still will get pimples at 25.

I've been using clinique face supplies for about 6 months now and it is keeping it in check but I will also work on my diet since that has to be a main contributor.

Dermatologists will just prescribe a bunch of drugs, topical, anti biotics and other stuff.

I was in the same situation as you. I went through dry lips, flaking skin, and looking horrible on accutane, just to get my acne back slowly after 6 months of discontinuing use.

I've finally found a solution based on real science instead of wives tales and folklore, which is sadly the state of what passes around for dermatology today. I recommend you check out the link I posted in the last post. It could really change your life, as it has done for me.

But I'm not an n=1 case. There are many people's individual experience, and controlled, clinical trials, as well as a lot of epidemiological studies, that support that diet. By the way, the diet does not "control" acne for me, like using topical creams does. It eliminates new acne from coming. There is no worrying whatsoever, as I get no new pimples. A few months ago I threw out all my old topical creams and stuff that I had amassed because I don't need them.

[Airblade]

Originally Posted by Scipio

I suffered from acne for years. I saw dermatologists (who generally are not aware of the impact of diet on acne) and doctors. I went on tetracycline and on accutane. Eventually, my acne would always come back.

I have finally eliminated my acne once and for all, and it is without a drug cure. I suggest you go to Acne Cure - The Dietary Cure for Acne is a natural, acne free diet and buy the E-book or paperback. You probably spend tonnes of money on washes, creams, etc, to get rid of your acne with dismal results, so why not try something that has complete eliminated acne in clinical trials.

Yes, there are clinical trials (recent ones) reporting that diet as a cure for acne. It's only a short matter of time before it becomes common knowledge in the dermatological community.

The book also teaches you the pathogenesis of acne, so you understand what actually causes acne, and how the diet intervenes in the proximal causes of acne. I can explain the science here if anyone is interested.

As for your sample diet, chuck the brown rice and replace it with some healthy, fatty salmon and steamed vegetables. Instead of having fruits that are high in sugar and on the glycemic index like bananas for breakfast, switch to a couple of poached Omega-3 eggs, and have some grapefruit. Get rid of tomato sauce, which has refined sugar in it, and use crushed tomatoes. Get rid of peas, lentils, etc as they contain something that directly causes acne as well. Start supplementing with fish oil, flax oil, cooking with only olive oil and canola oil. Leave all other oils and nuts out of your diet except for walnuts and macadamia nuts. You will see why when you read the book, but more than likely your omega 3:6 ratio is out of balance which aggravates your acne. You should eliminate all grains, everything from the lentil family, and almost everything introduced into the human diet after the agricultural revolution 5000 years ago.

If anyone has any questions behind the science of acne, or wants to know the reasoning behind my recommendations at all, post in this thread or start another thread and PM me to post there publicly.

Hey Scipio,

I am very interested in the science behind acne and your reasoning behind you recommendations! What are some other sample foods that I can eat on that diet? Give as much information as possible... I'm very interested!

[Scipio]

You should go to the site and download the ebook and you can begin reading the recommendations right away. Loren Cordain, PhD, the main researcher, puts it more elegantly than I ever can, and is more knowledgeable than me.

The diet is basically the Paleo Diet (Paleo Diet, The Paleo Diet, Paleolithic Diet, Caveman Diet, Hunter Gatherer Diet - dedicated to Paleolithic Nutrition and the Science of Healthy Eating) with some minor modifications.

If you had specific questions it would be more helpful, however I can try and think of a general overview. Science:

An omega 3:6 ratio that is out of balance causes inflammation, that exacerbates already existing acne.

Hyperinsulinemia from eating foods high on the insulin index and glycemic index cause a negative endocrine response in two ways: IGF-1 is increased and IGF-1 binding protein is decreased, leading to keratinocyte (skin cell) hyperproliferation.

If your skin cells proliferate in an abnormal and out of control way, and they are overly adherent (stick together instead of dying off in a normal way) they are what cause acne when they block the pore. They don't die properly, and instead hang around for a while.

You will have slightly increased androgen levels from eating high GI foods, which will lead to a greater production of sebum (oil). This is what fills the pore after the overly adherent keratinocyte desmosomes get stuck together.

Eating foods with certain inflammatory lectins that enter the blood stream through the back door of cells in the gut. Normally proteins break down but these are resistant for some reason. They enter the blood stream and cause an immune response that has been implicated in the high level of autoimmune diseases in the Western diet compared to modern hunter gatherer tribes. The acne relevant part to this is that they alter the structure and adherence of skin cells, thus causing them to stick together more (if I remember correctly). You will have to check this part in the book.

Those lectins are contained in foods you have been eating, such as any grains or lentils. The brown rice, pasta, and peas you eat have them.

If you look at modern day hunter gatherer tribes, they have zero incidence of acne. It is only until the Western diet is introduced, with cereal grains and other staples, that they begin to have acne. Several comparisons of tribes have been done in scientific journals in this way.

[Jesse Edmunds]

Hey Airblade, I created this thread and series of articles just for people like you: How to Cure Your Acne (thanks for posting this earlier eruso)

I used to have horrible acne, but completely cleared it permanently using holistic methods.

Let me know if you have any questions and I can help you out.

[Jana Gray]

Hi Everyone,

I've had moderate to severe acne since my freshman year of high school. It gradually decreased as I got older, but I still had enlarged pores and blackheads on my nose and everyone once in a while I still would get a full fledged pimple. At one point I went to a dermatologist and was put on oral tetracycline. It only gave me partial relief from acne and I didn't like the side effects. Over the summer I read a book about natural beauty enhancers which suggested taking omega three fatty acid supplements such as fish oil or flax seed oil, or evening primrose oil and also applying tea tree oil. Fish oil is revolting to me so I got flax seed and evening primrose gel caps at the health food store. I had dramatic improvement within a few days. Lately I've been tinkering with the formula and have doubled my intake of omega three and within few days my old enlarged pores and what I thought was acne "scarring" that I would have forever have begun to disappear. Wish I had taken before and after pictures.

Jana

[Rawvolta]

You can check this girl : Natural Acne Treatment And Skin Care — High on health

[G1000]

Originally Posted by Airblade

Hey everyone,

For all my life I have had pretty severe face and back acne (since about, 12 or so). It got extremely bad when I was through high school and then died down a bit as I entered university. In university I got fed up with the face acne and did the regime provided on acne.org which helped my face acne. However, after doing it for a year or so I got fed up with the time it took, and the negative consequences of the benzoyl peroxide staining my clothes.

I am now looking at holistic ways to cure my acne, specifically through diet. Right now I have cut out dairy and gluten (gluten for 1 month, dairy for 2 months) and this has only done very little to cure the acne. I still have a significant amount of acne, more so on my back (my back is literally covered in it). The annoying thing is I have an absolute crazy amount of oil on my face.


My daily diet nowdays consists of:

Breakfast: Green Smoothie (2 bananas, frozen berries, a ton of kale or spinach)

Lunch: Brown Rice Pasta (with tomatoe sauce, and 2 or 3 vegetables, garlic and onion)

Dinner: Brown Rice, chicken (I very rarely eat meat like once every 2 weeks or so... mostly because I am a poor student ), peas, lentils, etc... all very healthy foods. I eat huge green leaf salads often also.

Snacks: Fruits and Nuts

I eat no refined sugar, no processed foods, no gluten, and no dairy... and I still haven't really seen an improvement in my acne. It is very frustrating...

The only things I can think of to help (since I think my diet is pretty clean) are:

Liver flushes (I used to eat a lot of grain and a moderate amount of dairy... maybe my liver needs a flush from the years of abuse?)
Daily Epsom Salt Bathes
Colonic or Enemas
(these three things I have not tried)

Does anyone have any suggestions? This acne is really playing a role in my low self confidence so any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks everyone!

Hey I just wanted to say DO NOT USE ACCUTANE!!!!! I am 24 and have suffered from acne on my face, back and chest since I was 12-13. I took two cycle of accutane when I was 15 and the side effects NEVER went away. I still have chapped lips (24hrs a day)and dry itchy skin right out of the shower that turns to super oily within a few hrs. The accutane did nothing for me...it didn't help a bit if anything it made my skin worse. I also want to mention that the side effects of depression and sucidal thoughts are real and I am still dealing with them to this day. I am sure that accutane has helped many people but as for me it has made my life a living hell. I wish I never took that stupid drug. I geuss all I can say is that anyone who is battling with acne should exhaust any and every other option before using accutane. Maybe youll be one of the lucky ones who gets curred but you could also be one of the people who regrets their decision to use accutane for the rest of their life...I know I have.

[John Lemire]

I have had face and back acne since high school. I am 24 now and it is still going on. In the begaining on the year I started a raw diet. It helped a little. So does fasting, I notice my acne recesses when I water fast for a day or 2, much more noticable on day 2 or 3. Anyways this isnt my point. For the past few weeks I have noticed massive improvments on my acne and the only thing I can attribute it to is sun bathing. I started soaking up sun maybe a month ago. Just getting outside in the sun and bathing in direct sunlight for 30 mins a few times a week. Fast forward to now, my acne is massivly recessed.

In the past I havnt really gotten much direct sunlight, atleast not near as much as I am getting now so its something my skin isnt used to. I had to take it slow in the begaining, even tho It is absolutly blissfull just relaxing in direct sunlight for 20-30 mins (flipping sides when you feel your skin get "to warm"). Now I love streching out in the sun soaking up the rays, my skin loves it too. Its something I would suggest trying, if you have the time and the location. Soaking up the sun really has alot of benifits, to many to miss out on! If you like me and are inside for most of the day and your skin isnt recieving much direct sunlight, you may want to think about this, because if you think about it, our bodys were ment to get direct sunlight, and not sit in a building for 95% of our time.

[RubberDuck]

It could be leaky gut syndrome. The tests are quite simple to perform.

Foundation for Integrated Medicine - LEAKY GUT SYNDROMES:*BREAKING THE VICIOUS CYCLE by Leo Galland, M.D.

RD

[lovelyn]

I have a friend that swears by emu oil for her acne. I don't know much about it except that it comes from an emu and frankly that freaks me out a bit.

I'm a massage therapist and when I have a client with back acne I always use jojoba oil on them. Jojoba oil is antibacterial and mimics sebum (the oil produced by the skin). This tricks the skin into producing less sebum. Jojoba oil also helps break up the oil clogging the pores.

Tea tree essential oil also helps get rid of acne. You should put it on your skin without diluting it first because it'll cause irritation. I'd suggest putting a few drops of tea tree oil in some jojoba oil and apply the mixture to your face before you go to bed at night. You'll have an oily pillow case in the morning but it should help your problem. If you do that, eat right and drink plenty of water that should help.

Don't just take my word for it about the jojoba oil and tea tree oil, do your own research.