definately a coincidence...the only way alcohol will help is when youre drunk, you dont care what your skin looks like. lol

If anything most people tend to break out from excessive alcohol but if you dont count yourself lucky. Dont use it medicinally for your skin though--the last thing you need is a clear face and a DUI.

i have had acne for about 9 years now and it has been pretty consistent, not really got any better or worse. I don't really consume alcohol but a couple of months back I attended a staff party and spent the night drinking whiskey and I found that the week following that my acne had almost completely cleared. This was the first time since I started getting acne that I had actually never had even a single pimple on my back. So I'm wondering if this could be attributed to the alcohol as nothing else really changed around that time, I wasn't even on any medication of using any kind of acne treatment.

No, alcohol spikes insulin levels which ultimately leads to acne breakouts for many.

Every time I drink heavy the following week my skin is more firm looks healthy even bad no break outs.

lol lucky, then!

Every time I drink heavy the following week my skin is more firm looks healthy even bad no break outs.

The only correlation I see is that I will break out after drinking to the point of trying to pass out and die so the next day I'm out cold and I don't wash my face which equals acne.

I never break out the day after drinking, but a couple of days later I really pay for drinking. I'd say it was a coincidence, if alcohol helped acne, I'd be completely clear.

I couldn't find any legitimate research to prove that there was a correlation between acne and alcohol. I've seen alcoholics who don't have acne, and those that do.

Lately i've been having a scotch or two almost every night (I don't party), and my acne isn't really getting any better . I hear it spikes estrogen levels though, so maybe it temporarily cleared your acne :S

Thanks for the replies everyone, think I'll leave the alcohol alone, don't really want to make it any worse, will try the diet route first as I have a pretty bad diet at tje moment.

Not at all, it seems like just a coincidence.. Cosign w/collegeboy84 Alcohol spikes blood sugar, thus causing hormone influxes.. unbalanced hormones = acne..

what's funny is my acne has all the signs of the typical female hormonal type acne (yet I do have most of my acne on my forehead and cheeks/chin rather jaw).

but whenever I drink alcohol my acne is actually at it's best and I don't think about my acne at all so it's not a case of "you just forget about the acne and less stressed" because really if I'm drinking alcohol at all something seriously stressful has happened like an event and thus turn to alcohol so really I have everything against me, the stress the alcohol the no sleep yet my acne gets better. vodka seems to keep my acne calm. And it's not like I break out the day after or week after my acne just returns to it's normal state. Nothing more nothing less just the usual.

I rarely drink but if I go to have a 'huge' night for someones birthday then I'm actually so confident because I know whatever I drink, even if it's with sugar or anything that my acne will only get better and I won't break out. Even weeks to follow. The only acne that comes back is the usual that's always there. It totally sucks that my skin looks it's best after drinking -_-

It's really weird because it contradicts absolutely everything. My god I wish I knew what was causing my acne haha it's literally doing the opposite to everything that's known to help. Even if I had a celebratory day for something and there's junk food my acne gets better not worse. Healthy eating doesn't even help my acne nothing 'helps' it...all I know is ridiculous things like junk food and alcohol calm it. But of course I'd never turn to those things so it's so annoying. I wish it was healthy food that calmed my acne >.<

ramble there. Just pointing out that although alcohol is clearly bad for everyone in every which way.. it helps my acne and there is no "wait for the breakout" there is none. It's one of very very few things that have a direct effect on my acne, positive or negative nothing seems to 'change it' so to have it get better with something so bad is beyond me and everything I've ever learned.

Alcohol is known to decrease test and increase estrogen. So I don't see how it could cause acne :/.

I drink my alcohol straight or vodka mixed with water as well.

Can alcohol help acne?

I can foresee an "experiment" coming on!

I'll let you know how I get on...Hic

You might be onto something here, this would explain why men who sit around drinking in the pub all day and lead an unhealthy lifestyle have nothing wrong with their skin, and there's me exercising 5x per week, never smoked, seldom drink, eat extremely well, looking after my skin, getting plenty of sunshine and yet I'm the one with the 'effing acne! Makes me very upset

Here's a theory.

Whatever your body is "normally" using as fuel, gives you acne. When you drink alcohol, it becomes the primary fuel source instead until it's gone.

I have never heard of alcohol curing anyones acne before and I dont think there is any scientific basis for it, but yes this can be a good excuse for many to consume more alcohol.

I guess it also depends on what kind of alcohol. I get a histamine reaction when I drink more than 1 bottle of cider, which is supposed to be one of the "healthiest" drinks for people avoiding gluten. Sometimes I break out from tequila or vodka. But I never get any breakouts or red spots from specific beers like heineken. So for now I just stick to a heineken here and there

Nope, I can't think of any convincing way to explain why acne would magically go away because of alcohol. Because if it were true, most people with acne problems would be alcoholics )