Hormones and Zits - The Relationship

Hormonal imbalance has been long regarded as the culprit in many conditions and diseases, including skin diseases. The development of acne or the inflammation of the skin that results to skin breakouts like blackheads, whiteheads, red spots or pimples or zits, has been linked to an imbalance in hormones, particularly androgens.

Androgens, after all, are what stimulate the sebaceous glands to produce more oil or sebum, and sebum is the one thing that fuels acne flare-ups.

Since it is during puberty that the human body begins to produce androgens, acne breakouts are often seen among teenagers. After the age of 20, the production of sebum starts to wane, but it doesn’t mean that you are free of acne forever. Acne can flare-up any time again.

As you can see, the reason for acne is not that you are eating the wrong kind of food or that you do not wash your face too often. However, when you eat too much of anything that contains iodine and muscle-enhancing steroids, that can lead to acne flare-ups.
While hormones are linked with the formation of acne blemishes, having acne does not always indicate that you are having hormonal imbalance.

You must understand that the levels of the female hormone change all throughout the monthly cycle. The rise and fall of the female hormonal levels can either increase or decrease the incidence of acne. If you are experiencing acne during your monthly period, you can treat it with topical creams and oral antibiotics or if you are using birth control pills, you may have to change them or adjust the dosage.

Although, your dermatologist is the right person to assess you if what you have is hormonally-induced acne, you can determine it yourself based on the following symptoms: acne that appears for the first time in adults (adult-onset), acne flare-ups that occur before your menstrual period, history of irregular menstrual cycles, increased facial oiliness, excessive hair growth or hirsutism, and increased levels of androgens in the blood.

To be more specific, the presence of androgens propels the oil glands to produce more oil, blocking follicles and clumping them together with the dead skin cells at the topmost layer of your skin.

These can get into your pores, clogging them, thus trapping oil and bacteria inside your skin, causing your follicle to swell.

In defence, your white blood cells will naturally produce an enzyme to damage the wall of the follicle so the contents of the follicle can enter the dermis.

This causes the formation of papules (the red and painful bumps) or blackheads and whiteheads (comedones) or pimples or acne.

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