41 replies to this topic

[rubberduck]

Thats odd...I drink 3 cups a day and it never has an effect on me

[RockingRedhead]

dude, I'm with you here....I had half a shot of coffee a few weeks ago and it totally broke me out! No more caffeine for me.

do you find the small amount of caffeine in chocolate breaks you out? I haven't had chocolate since the coffee incident just in case.

[Lily_Lilac]

I thought I'd let you know that I just rediscovered a great coffee alternative. We used to drink it as kids because my parents didn't want us to have real coffee. It's called "PERO Instant Natural Beverage" and I found it at my local health food store, but Amazon carries it as well. It only contains malted barley, barley, chicory and rye and it tastes very much like real coffee. I like to mix it with hot milk and it gives me the same satisfaction that a cup of real coffee would bring. Just wanted to share!

[pegz]

Do you still think it's coffee/caffeine or did the zits come back? let us know.

[alphabetpony]

I found that cutting down on coffee drastically limited the number of inflammed zits I got too. Quitting it never eliminated them completely for me though, so I let myself drink a cup in the morning. For me, I think it's because the caffeine seems to flood my body with stress hormones or something (also makes me go up and down all day the more I drink it).

[HeadUp]

Thats odd...I drink 3 cups a day and it never has an effect on me

Then why are you here? coffee might screw with some people
because it's caffine, sugar and milk which can all be trigers.

[pegz]

I found that cutting down on coffee drastically limited the number of inflammed zits I got too. Quitting it never eliminated them completely for me though, so I let myself drink a cup in the morning. For me, I think it's because the caffeine seems to flood my body with stress hormones or something (also makes me go up and down all day the more I drink it).

Caffeine actually has health benefits in small doses.

[RD001]

Hi Cates,

Just wondering how your progress is? I am also pregnant and have tried EVERYTHING imaginable to try to get a grip on my cystic acne. I have been drinking coffee for 15 years and come to think of it, that's possibly when my acne began? How long before you started noticing results?

[Again!]

I would really love to see how your doing after you have had your baby. I doubt its coffee, but more from being pregnant. My friends acne went away while she was pregnant and then it all came back afterwards.

[y3rfd0g]

Hey I'm glad you found your culprit. Whether it's coffee or caffeine, you are at least aware that it could be both.

I was pretty clear for about 3 months (odd zit here or there). Then my boyfriend from Switzerland came and brought me all this dark chocolate. I didn't inhale it right away, but within a week that I started eating it I kept getting more and more bumps and pimples. I was horrified.

when I visted Switzerland over Christmas, for two weeks I had chocolate and espresso everday. My skin erupted. But I haven't drank coffee since January I think. Drank chai tea up until a few months ago. Have a soda randomly here or there (maybe once a month). And I don't know if it's the sugar or what, but I pretty much know it's caffeine. I've almost always known it's caffeine.

I wish you luck and a healthy baby! Congrats!

[FoolintheRain]

Interesting post. I am wondering, though, if it's more the milk/cream instead of your coffee. Dairy produces more acne for me than anything. Other than spicy foods. You didn't say if you always use milk in your coffee, noticed you mentioned mocha. May have to try it myself. :angel:

[dannyamar]

Caffeine DEFINITELY has an affect on me. I told my derm, he said that's pretty common among acne suffers.

Coffee, energy drinks, tea's all make me break out. Usually 1 cyst or if I'm lucky a couple small zits.
Interestingly enough, 5 hour energy shots don't make me break out. However I'm not 100% sure on this. For me it was my realization that my pre-workout supplement I took for the gym made me break out. I thought it was the gym machines, the towels, the sweat, well I was really careful at the gym but still broke out. Until one day I took a 5 hour energy instead of my normal supplement, so that's when I cut out my supplement.
However later on I realized it was anything with extreme caffeine in it, and I haven't really had 5 hour energy in a long time so not really sure if its ok or not.

[Cates]

Sorry it's been so long since I posted! But I have been thinking about checking back in so here's an update.

I have still been avoiding caffeine and coffee since having my baby, because of breast-feeding and all... and my face has been totally fine as far as not getting any new cysts. Last week though, I decided to have a tall soy chai tea latte from Starbucks, and guess what - my face was all tingly for a couple days and during that time I developed a nice new cyst near the corner of my mouth. woo hoo. :/ I also could tell that elsewhere on my chin other cysts were developing underneath the surface. Ugh.

So... 1 point for my culprit really being caffeine-related and not just coffee-related. In order to really test the theory that it's caffeine that is causing my cystic acne and not coffee, I decided to chance it and have a tall decaf iced caramel macchiato. I just drank that a few hours ago, so we'll see what happens. I'm really hoping it's not coffee because I don't want another giant painful cyst on my face, and I really don't want ANOTHER scar. I know there's still a small amount of caffeine in decaf coffee but I've been having a lot of chocolate over the holidays and I really don't think that amount of caffeine is enough to push me over the edge and have a breakout.

To everyone who mentioned that it could be the dairy:
Did you read my whole first post? I know it was super long, but it's really really really NOT the dairy. Dairy makes me congested, but that's about it. During my pregnancy I drank more milk and ate more ice cream than I ever have in my entire life, and that's when my acne was literally non-existent.

Anyway, I will come back and post to let you know if any new cysts developed or not in the next few days. Crossing my fingers...

[kidego]

Cates, on 01 January 2012 - 05:31 PM, said:

Sorry it's been so long since I posted! But I have been thinking about checking back in so here's an update.

I have still been avoiding caffeine and coffee since having my baby, because of breast-feeding and all... and my face has been totally fine as far as not getting any new cysts. Last week though, I decided to have a tall soy chai tea latte from Starbucks, and guess what - my face was all tingly for a couple days and during that time I developed a nice new cyst near the corner of my mouth. woo hoo. :/ I also could tell that elsewhere on my chin other cysts were developing underneath the surface. Ugh.

So... 1 point for my culprit really being caffeine-related and not just coffee-related. In order to really test the theory that it's caffeine that is causing my cystic acne and not coffee, I decided to chance it and have a tall decaf iced caramel macchiato. I just drank that a few hours ago, so we'll see what happens. I'm really hoping it's not coffee because I don't want another giant painful cyst on my face, and I really don't want ANOTHER scar. I know there's still a small amount of caffeine in decaf coffee but I've been having a lot of chocolate over the holidays and I really don't think that amount of caffeine is enough to push me over the edge and have a breakout.

To everyone who mentioned that it could be the dairy:
Did you read my whole first post? I know it was super long, but it's really really really NOT the dairy. Dairy makes me congested, but that's about it. During my pregnancy I drank more milk and ate more ice cream than I ever have in my entire life, and that's when my acne was literally non-existent.

Anyway, I will come back and post to let you know if any new cysts developed or not in the next few days. Crossing my fingers...

Is this you?

[Cates]

Ha! No, that's not me, but I'm not surprised someone else is having this issue!!

Just to add to my last post, I decided to have another decaf caramel macchiato a couple days ago and I haven't noticed any *new* cysts yet. I put that in asterisks because I am still dealing with two large zits that developed when I had that soy chai a couple weeks ago. At this point, I'm assuming that the decaf coffee hasn't affected my skin because those zits were already there when I had the decaf macchiato twice this past week.

Once these two zits/cysts are fully healed - if I'm still able to drink decaf without any new cysts, I'm going to have to conclude that the first guy who posted/commented on this topic was correct - that it was in fact the high levels of caffeine in the coffee that were (and still are) doing me wrong!

[kidego]

Cates, on 05 January 2012 - 12:54 PM, said:

Ha! No, that's not me, but I'm not surprised someone else is having this issue!!

Just to add to my last post, I decided to have another decaf caramel macchiato a couple days ago and I haven't noticed any *new* cysts yet. I put that in asterisks because I am still dealing with two large zits that developed when I had that soy chai a couple weeks ago. At this point, I'm assuming that the decaf coffee hasn't affected my skin because those zits were already there when I had the decaf macchiato twice this past week.

Once these two zits/cysts are fully healed - if I'm still able to drink decaf without any new cysts, I'm going to have to conclude that the first guy who posted/commented on this topic was correct - that it was in fact the high levels of caffeine in the coffee that were (and still are) doing me wrong!

Here's another video you might find helpful...

I noticed she discovered other allegies after her 1st 1, I'm hoping that's not my case but I'm starting to suspect Legumes (not Acne causing though).

[Cates]

When I was young, about 11 or 12 years old I was tested for reactions to all different kinds of allergens (I was given a back prick test) and I wasn't allergic to anything. I am fortunate for that. Though I know dairy causes me some congestion and I'm pretty sure soy gives me crazy dreams, sometimes nightmares.

[eastie]

is it coffee or just caffeine? can u drink non-caffeine coffee?

[Cates]

eastie, on 12 January 2012 - 04:20 PM, said:

is it coffee or just caffeine? can u drink non-caffeine coffee?

I'm pretty sure now that it's just caffeine! I have had quite a bit of decaf coffee the past week and I haven't gotten any new cysts. I have had one cyst though, underneath the surface of my skin (not really visible) for the past couple of weeks and I think even having decaf coffee isn't doing me any favors when it comes to my skin naturally healing and eliminating the cyst (since there's still some caffeine in decaf coffee, just not a lot).

SO! I think as long as I have decaf and I don't have it everyday, maybe just a few times per week at most, that I should be cyst-free from now on! Woo! Maybe I should rename my original post... I'm so happy though that I can still have decaf coffee!! SQUEEEEE!!! But not being able to have caffeine sure is a bummer when my 6 month old barely sleeps at night! ha.

[iCogito]

OMG, that might be it!!! Im the same way. I've been on this message board for so long!! I tried EVERYTHING, and Im still breaking out...almost 6 years later after my first visit to this board. Im addicted to coffee,I look foward to my morning ONLY because of coffee. OUCH. Ill try to slowly stop drinking it. Just a week ago, taking ALL the hearbs, eating right..my face is just breakes out and breaks out in cystic acne..like it is some reaction, and coffee is the only thing I never stopped drinking. I dont use creamers...and I drink coffee for its taste, Once I tried to stop drinking coffee ,I had very bad withdrawal symptoms...nightmares, chills,heart problems.. Now Ill do it slowly. Ill start using 1 of regular coffee instead of my usual 4.Ill post update in 2 weeks.