I am a 21 year-old female, been dealing with acne since I was 11/12. It started out on my face (only on my forehead and temples, occasionally on my upper cheeks near my nose) and when I was 12/13 it appeared on my body (chest, shoulders, upper arms, and entire back). Had and still have very oily skin, need to wash my hair everyday because it gets so greasy. I got my period when I was 15 and it was pretty regular, then after I turned 16 I got on the pill (Diane) to help with my acne. It worked so well and got rid of all the acne on my face, but didn't reduce my oil production and had no effect on my body acne. This led me to the conclusion that the cause of my face acne was hormonal and my body acne was something else. After about a year on it, I stopped because it had no effect on my body acne. My period kept being regular after I got off of it. A few months later I went back on it, because my face acne reappeared. Cleared my face up perfectly, but still no change to my body acne. Again about a year and a half later (January 2018), I decided to stop the pill, because of all the bad things it generally does to your body and decided I would fix my acne naturally. Only got my period 6 months later (June 2018) and ever since it has been very irregular, with cycles longer than 40 days. The other thing that happened when I got off the pill the second time was the appearance of acne all over my cheeks and jawline, typical of female hormonal acne and something that I never had before. I was so happy to have perfect skin on my cheeks, but now I have acne on all parts of my face (+ earlobes, super weird). Luckily, what I have on my face and body are all open and closed comedones and not cystic or nodular acne. However, the pores on my chest, shoulders, upper arms, entire back, and upper stomach are almost all entirely clogged.
My diet is generally pretty clean (its similar to a Paleo diet, but I don't follow any diets). Daily intake of fresh fruits and vegetables. I limit my sugar intake.Tried cutting out dairy; gave me nothing. Have been taking probiotic supplements (30 billion) for 2 weeks now, haven't noticed any change in my acne, but will keep taking it for 2 more weeks. Once I'm done with that, gonna try taking zinc picolinate. Have tried everything topical, benzoyl peroxide helps in calming the acne of my face, but I know the cause is internal, and nothing helps my body.
^ this is what my chest looks like. my skin looks the same on my shoulder, arms, back and upper stomach. you can see all the small bumps/clogged pores. its not the worst but trust me when I say that every pore is clogged.
^ my forehead acne is different than the one on my cheeks and way less bad
^ cheeks
Any tips for naturally balancing my hormones?
Any ideas on what could be causing this over-production of sebum and the blackheads all over my body?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!!
I am so sorry you are going through this. Have you tried spironolactone? It blocks hormones your body is producing. It may help. Talk to your dermatologist. Also, I'm always conscious of demodex as I had an issue with it. It can cause acne and they can live anywhere on the body. Do you have pets? Demodex instances are usually higher in cases where people have pets. Sometimes you have to treat the pet as well as yourself for demodex mites.