60 replies to this topic

[malodrax]

honestly, in all my life, i have never seen an obese person with acne
most are skinny/normal weight
why is this?
is it because the "fat" is exiting out of their pores, thus oily skin
and they never put on fat so they're always skinny?

[Lady Odd Duck]

You haven't seen me then.

I'm no biologist, but I don't think fat exits through the skin in the way you're suggesting...I'm interested to hear what others have to say though.

[malodrax]

Sebum is, essentially, "fat".

[Axxith]

I have to admit, I haven't seen many obese or overweight individuals with acne (i've seen a few, but not as many as skinny individuals). I guess it's a trade-off, huh? Haha I kid.

[pog]

I know that I went through a period of anorexia when my acne was at its worst. It was a control issue.

I think acne sufferers in general tend to be more meticulous with the parts of their appearance that are easily controlled.

[jimbug9]

Oh trust me, I know quite a few overweight/obese people with awful skin...

[Splouge69]

you have a valid point there my friend. heres my theory:

skinny people have naturally high metabolism (like myself)
then we think we can eat anything we want (and we can) and not gain wait.
all the bad things we eat are shown through our skin.

when a slower metabolismed person would be already restricting their diet due to the known effect- weight gain.

just my $0.02

[Euler]

A lot of acne sufferers believe that their complexion is related to their diet, so are much more careful with what they eat. As a result, their weight may be relatively low, but their skin may stay they same.

But I've seen plenty of fat/obese acne sufferers, and only a few very skinny ones! The majority of acne sufferers I've seen are a normal size.

Interestingly, of all my coursemates and most of my friends, I'm the only one with acne. Yet on my football team, three or four of the other eight girls also have acne.

[Allybatty]

there was a few kids ay my school who were acne and obese, i felt sorry for them cos acne is bad enough by itself let alone having to worry about your weight too

[LoveGreenSmoothies]

Actually, fat creates estrogen and higher estrogen *generally* means less acne. This can be messed up if the excess estrogen is converted into testosterone.

I was always skinny and never ate any crap and I've had acne my whole life. I actually ate everything made from scratch since I was a kid. I swear, my mom was the first alternative therapy person. We couldn't have candy or sodas or chips etc except for special occasions. If we wanted candy she would tell us to eat fruit. No joke...

[Choof_Chomper]

Skinny persons have higher DHT:Testosterone ratio making them skinnier and more acne-prone on average

[TTPW4227]

A coincidence? I think thats weeiirrdd most the people you see who have acne are skinny. At my school a lot of people with acne are pretty fat/chubby. I bet there a lot of factors but it really comes down as to what kind of people you live around and what kind of humidity your town has.

[rentstuff]

I think the above poster - Anti - Em - which linked less acne with a higher estrogen (estradiol) is getting close.

That is probably the direct link to the indirect observation of the OP.

High estrogen/estradiol = central obesity (fat face, fat belly, the rest skinny) = not necessarily overall morbidly obese.

High estrogen = harder to lose weight (hence why men lose weight faster than women)

Skinny people = high Testosterone (T):low estrogen ratio.

High T == High Free T (FT)
High FT == High DHT

High DHT == increased sebum production

local Linoleic Acid deficiency (in the skin, not systemic) = poor skin shedding

Increased Sebum + Poor Skin Shedding = Comedone / Whitehead / Blackheads

Comedone + Bacteria = Acne.

*** EDIT: BTW, this why is a lot of athletes / bodybuilders who took creatine/whey are getting acne. It is due to the high T / DHT which was triggered by the whey intake (only for those who are genetically predisposed to it (probably autoimmune disease).

*** THE SAME REASON WHY SAW PALMETTO (Beta-Sitosterol) WORKS IN REDUCING OIL PRODUCTION, AND STOPPING MALE PATTERN BALDNESS! i.e., blocking 5-AR Type I enzyme to stop DHT Production. WARNING THOUGH, CAUSES MANBOOBS (high estrogen : Low testosterone ratio duh).

Edited by rentstuff, 24 January 2010 - 02:56 AM.

[maxxie]

I read a really interesting (and complicated) post on this a while and it's all very scientific. It had something to do with the types of histamines that skinnier people produce and that many have a genetic variation called "histadelic metabolism". I'm not sure if this is right but it said that when skinny people eat, their bodies burn the food more quickly and less efficiently so we (skinny people) have to deal with more toxins.

I just found the link:
http://forum.bodybui...p/t-649327.html

[JoeBloggs]

I'm not sure if this is right but it said that when skinny people eat, their bodies burn the food more quickly and less efficiently so we (skinny people) have to deal with more toxins.

That sounds pretty viable in my opinion. Maybe the fact that we metabolize food so quickly means that our liver cant handle all the toxins so quickly in one go. Whereas people with slow metabolism, their livers can slowly filter out the toxins and stuff but the trade off is they put on weight easier.

[Mr. Crab]

Could this be because of some kind of digestion problem that acne sufferers have that doesn't allow them to break down certain fats or other compounds in foods we eat, thus our body can't store these fats, and maybe they are being purged out through the skin?

I never thought about it like this before, and it would make sense to me.

[Vicious Lyss]

can't have one without the other i guess haha.

[soccergirl16]

That is so true! My sister is obese, and she DOES have acne but not nearly as bad as mine is and I am skinny.
I think it's mostly because skinny people like myself have extremely high metabolism, so I basically eat everything, whether it's full of sugar and oily fat or healthy and we don't gain weight. So we don't worry about what we eat, and most of it is unhealthy, therefore making our skin oily and more prone to acne
but that's just my personal opinion

[octopusfrog]

I think this is interesting because I'm the skinniest person in my family and the one with the worst acne.

[prostik]

Yeah I observed this before in my school. Some of them do have acne but its just very mild here and there. Mainly skinny or average people have a lot of acne. I'm just glad mine isn't the worse in school XD