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Hormonal & Comedonal Acne, Healthy Diet, Niacin, & More

MemberMember
2
(@nbury)

Posted : 10/13/2014 7:21 pm

Hello everyone who is reading this!

I am a 18 year old male who has bean dealing with acne and awful skin for most of my life. I've had blackheads on my nose my whole life, and started getting back, chest, and face acne all over last year. I have dry, sensitive skin with an oily t-zone. I am pale and really don't have the best of genes. I am the only child out of five that has suffered with acne.

Anyways, i got really into researching how to get rid of acne and dove into the natural side of things. The first thing i came across for getting rid of acne naturally and holistically was diet. This made a lot of sense to me, and i looked into different diets and what foods could and could not cause acne, although it is so random and different for everyone. I chose to invest my lifestyle to the Paleo Diet. An all natural and extremely healthy diet.

I have also done a load of supplementing. I won't get into the old, but will update on the new!

Along with the diet and supplementing, I pretty much changed my entire lifestyle. I no longer do drugs. I strive to get at least 8 hours of sleep EVERY night. I use 100% organic and all natural skin and body-care products. I also started using a single-blade razor as this is the best razor for sensitive skin, and does not cause in-grown hairs/acne.

Results from the Paleo Diet

I have been on this diet for about half a year, and am content on keeping it my whole life. It cleared, I'd say about 80%, of my acne. My chest and back rarely get acne and I only continue to get blackheads and comedonal acne on my forehead, in-between my eyebrows, my nose, and my chin area. (Was wondering if anyone could illuminate me on 'comedonal acne'? Definition, causes, treatments? Pease)

Results from Supplementing

I have read a lot of success stories on curing acne with Niacin, so I am going to get some and give it a shot. I will update often.

I have also read that you can cure hormonal acne with saw palmetto and something like beta tisosterol. I am going to give this a shot in the future and will update often as well.

Results from Healthy Lifestyle

Drugs are obviously dangerous and harmful to the body. They only make fighting acne worse.

Sleep is one of the most healthy things you can do for your body. Your body heals itself when sleeping. Getting a lot of sleep is a must. If you feel tired, just know you need more sleep. You shouldn't feel tired until your normal bed time. As with shaving, shaving can cause acne. If you think shaving causes your acne, stop using multi-bladed razors. Switch to a single blade or a safety razor. Google it for more info.

Questions

As i mentioned above, I only really suffer with blackheads and comedonal acne. I get it on my back, chest, forehead, t-zone, nose, and chin. As it isn't as awful as full blown zits, it is annoying. They literally do not go away, and always re-appear if I am able to squeeze them out. But sometimes trying to get rid of comedones causes them to erupt into an actual zit. I do cleanse, tone, and moisturize Could anyone give me insight on the causes and treatments of this kind of acne? I figure it has to do something with my pores being clogged, dead skin cells, and/or my skin have a rejuvination problem of some sort. Also wanted to know if anyone had a cure to male hormonal acne? I believe this is the only reason i breakout bad if i do at all. Any help would be greatly appreciated, and you can ask me for more details! If any of my info helps, or you would like to know more, let me know! (:

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(@k3tchup)

Posted : 10/13/2014 7:43 pm

Messing with blackheads through manipulation as you have done causes even skin trauma to lead them to erupt, while others do not. I do not have this issue, but from my understanding you need to exfoliate your skin more often to prevent clogged pores and mildly cleanse after to maintain open pores, free of back heads.

A mild exfoliatant that does not penetrate deep into the layers of the skin may be best for your such as an AHA.

I would read in depth through like wiki to get an understanding on the science of it all if you care. But in the short i would appear you need to mildly exfoliate your skin more often.

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(@green-gables)

Posted : 10/14/2014 12:16 am

Saw palmetto affects your hormone balance to stop acne internally. If you have too much androgenic activity (or a sensitivity to your own androgens) then you will have acne no matter what creams you put on your skin or how healthy you eat. That's were saw palmetto comes into play, stopping the whole androgenic-acne chain before it even starts.

After 8 months on an anti-androgen my comedonal acne is 100% gone and my clogged pores are greatly reduced.

Along with the hormonal issue you may also have a dysfunction of your skin regeneration cycle and/or the quality of your sebum. I still get more clogged pores than a person with "ideal" skin. I actually do chemical peels and microdermabrasion at home to keep them in check. It's actually a pretty easy DIY as long as you can follow detailed instructions. If you want more info on that plus where to get professional quality products send me a PM and I'll be happy to give you instructions.

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(@nbury)

Posted : 10/14/2014 8:53 am

Thanks for the replies! Im not really sure what an exfoliant is, would wiping my face with a wash cloth be considered exfoliating? And then i cleanse, tone, and moisturize once a day. Does that work? Or do i need to find an actual exfoliant..if you could give me some details on what an actual exfoliant is haha. As for hormonal acne and saw palmetto; yes i do believe it is hormonal because I am very healthy yet still breakout randomly like once every couple of weeks for NO reason.

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MemberMember
173
(@green-gables)

Posted : 10/14/2014 3:05 pm

Thanks for the replies! Im not really sure what an exfoliant is, would wiping my face with a wash cloth be considered exfoliating? And then i cleanse, tone, and moisturize once a day. Does that work? Or do i need to find an actual exfoliant..if you could give me some details on what an actual exfoliant is haha. As for hormonal acne and saw palmetto; yes i do believe it is hormonal because I am very healthy yet still breakout randomly like once every couple of weeks for NO reason.

There are varying degrees of exfoliation. Scrubbing with a washcloth is somewhat exfoliating. Generally the best type of physical exfoliation is using a scrub with tiny particles in it. You use your fingers with moderate pressure to scrub for 1-2 minutes then wash off. This will work a lot better than just flinging a washcloth around.

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(@nbury)

Posted : 10/14/2014 4:12 pm

On 10/14/2014 at 7:53 PM, NBury said:

There are varying degrees of exfoliation. Scrubbing with a washcloth is somewhat exfoliating. Generally the best type of physical exfoliation is using a scrub with tiny particles in it. You use your fingers with moderate pressure to scrub for 1-2 minutes then wash off. This will work a lot better than just flinging a washcloth around.

Ok i do have a scrub actually. It says to only use twice a week though, is that good enough? Ill still use a washcloth and cleanse and everything else. What about saw palmetto though. What kind of that should i take? And with what else? What is an anti-androgen that i can take?

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