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I'm a 19 year old guy who has very mild acne with every few weeks moderate acne breakouts. These always occur around my mouth/lips and chin (rarely on my jawline - like the bridge of my nose, I'd have to touch my face in those places many times before a pimple appears), as well as very sparsely spread across my forehead. I also have very light acne on my shoulders but rarely anyplace else.
My doctor, as well as my dermatologist, have both prescribed me things in the past for more severe acne breakouts when I was a teenager, but I've since gone off all prescriptions except my last tube of Retin-A (which I use sparingly). The thing I'm realizing now is that neither my doctor, nor my dermatologist, has ever classified my acne as "hormonal" or not. I'm also finding it pretty difficult to find articles on hormonal acne for teenage/young adult males online. I've found one article that suggests, at least in women, that hormonal acne tends to only be deep, cystic acne (which I've only had 2 cysts in my life, neither within the last 6 months, primarily due to stress and touching my face constantly in those areas - I've since tamed myself there), as well as predominantly located around the cheekbones and jawline (neither of which I have acne at all there). I've also read hormonal acne tends not to respond at all to topical ointments like Retin-A, yet my acne always has almost cleared up every morning due to the topical. I'm skeptical...
So my question is, with the information I've provided that I only have mild to at times moderate acne (which always occurs around my mouth/lips and chin), does this sound like it's hormonal, or more food or stress related?
Well, A lot of teenage acne, if not all acne has a hormonal background. We know that at 19 these hormones are most likely in overdrive (and rightfully so due to puberty). We also know that eating high carb foods can influence hormone and insulin changes. We also know that some people can have food sensitivities to gluten, dairy, ect and as well as insulin sensitivities. Personally I think the link between diet and acne is still quite unproven and only mildly related if at all. So to answer your question it's most certainly a hormonal type of acne if you're not inducing the acne with a type of medication or external irritant.. and I suppose that there's a small chance that it could be slightly amplified by diet, food sensitivity, and stress... but I personally don't think the answer relies in them.
Hope this helped! (:
Well, A lot of teenage acne, if not all acne has a hormonal background. We know that at 19 these hormones are most likely in overdrive (and rightfully so due to puberty). We also know that eating high carb foods can influence hormone and insulin changes. We also know that some people can have food sensitivities to gluten, dairy, ect and as well as insulin sensitivities. Personally I think the link between diet and acne is still quite unproven and only mildly related if at all. So to answer your question it's most certainly a hormonal type of acne if you're not inducing the acne with a type of medication or external irritant.. and I suppose that there's a small chance that it could be slightly amplified by diet, food sensitivity, and stress... but I personally don't think the answer relies in them.
Hope this helped! (:
Thanks for the response Garrettryan.
I think, in terms of hormones, I must be on the downward end of things. Primarily because my acne when it started around 13-14 was moderate to severe with dozens of white heads, compared to today with only under a dozen small white heads and very mild overall. Plus the areas where I've developed acne today compared to when I was younger have changed for the better.
So I'm not completely convinced that it's hormonal. I'll speak further with my doctor about it when I see him in a week. My primary doctor likes to get into acne cases with experimental treatments before sending me off to the dermatologist again. I'll speak to him about hormones, but also about stress and nutrition.
I've read dozens of articles that suggest a link between acne and either allergies or sensitivities to certain foods. I know for a fact I cannot ever have chocolate or dairy because my face immediately breaks out. So that must be nutrition. I have high amounts of stress, which I feel also inadvertently causes acne around my lips, which coincides with Chinese facial mapping I've found to be rather correct in my case.
I've also found that eating anything processed or filled with unnatural carbohydrates seem to increase my risk of getting pimples.
I wish it were as simple as a hormonal imbalance that I could correct, but with my sensitive, dry skin and always having a difficult time finding a "fix" to my acne problems over the years, I unfortunately don't think it's that simple. If only! haha
I guess I'll just see what my doctor suggests.