Gluten Free Diet

I've discovered gluten (grains) is the source of my acne on lower cheeks and around the mouth. After i realized Dairy was the reason of my back acne i went gluten free to discover my face acne is cause by gluten. Trough a lot of time spent on trial and error on gluten free diet i finaly made a sustainable gluten free diet and my face stoped breaking out after just a week of gluten free diet. The main culprit of my back acne was dairy and lower cheek, around the mouth acne was gluten. Now i know if i ingested something that doesnt suit me from the location of my acne. Im acne gluten and acne free for 2 motnhs now. Anyway give it a go, and hopefuly it helps you also. No need to go vegan or blah blah, just cut out gluten containing food.

I have had cystic acne for about ten years. On my back and shoulders, on my face mostly around jaw on the cheeks and around mouth. I have been to three different dermatologists and I had an Accutane-like treatment. Nothing helped. About three years ago I started exercising and my acne improved. I never ate a lot of dairy but to get more muscle I started drinking more milk and it worsened my acne so I stopped, that was about a year ago. Then my dad bought some green tea. I drank about three cups a day because I had a cold at the time and my acne started improving by a lot, it didn't clear up completely, that was about two months ago. I read a lot about green tea and its anti-inflammatory properties so I started eating a very different diet (so called anti-inflammatory), mostly vegetables, fruits and legumes, very little meat, some fish and a home made whole wheat and rye bread. Everything was going great, I was losing fat, my mood improved, but acne was still there. So I tried to stop eating the bread as it was the only gluten containing food I ate. That was about a week ago and I feel no pain from the remaining acne and no new has appeared since. I feel extremely stupid for trying this so late. Gluten free being such a hipster fad it made me skeptical it would be the only solution but it was. Only thing I will miss is beer (I am Czech).

I've been off of gluten for about three months now, my main motivation in making that change was to see if it would make a difference in my moderate hormonal acne. While I have felt a generally better sense of well being (more energy, less stomach aches, bloating, gas, and indigestion) I haven't seen much improvement in terms of my skin. The bumps on my cheeks have calmed down a bit but I still get nasty hormonal flare ups along my chin, jaw, and near my mouth

Didnt really help... Tried going vegan did improve my skin but, one step further didnt going gluten free didnt get me the results i hope for, tried it for a year, i suppose I can just say hello to some beloved wholemeal bread again

I decided to give gluten-free a go after feeling as though I had tried everything else. My GPs had always said that my acne had nothing to do with my diet but seemed to only want to treat the symptoms not the cause. When they suggested I go on to heavier medication to age the skin and so bypass any hormonal changes I decided to experiment for myself and see if I could make a change on my own without resorting to that. I was tested for coeliac disease which came back negative but my mother has coeliac disease and so I have always wondered whether I might have a sensitivity. When I went gluten free the first change I noticed was in my nails; they used to crack and split regularly but now are much stronger. After about 2 months I noticed a dramatic improvement in my skin too, to the point where I have had a number of comments from people who have asked what treatment I've had done. My pigmentation from previous acne is starting to level out and clear up, and from previously having borderline cystic acne on a daily basis, I now just get the occasional tiny whitehead which clears up in a day or so. It is not easy to give up gluten but once I did my energy levels were better, I don't get hunger pangs as much and my skin looks better than it has since I was 13. If you are like me and at the end of your tether with acne, consider giving it a go for at least a month and see if you notice any change.

I have been dealing with cystic/hormonal acne for about 4 years. Painful, deep cystic acne (along with "normal" pimples) all over my lower cheeks by my mouth, along my jawline, and even slightly on my neck. Blackheads became an issue too. It seemed everything made me break out - humid weather was the worst. I couldn't be seen without makeup because my face was scarred and red, and constantly breaking out. This type of acne came about suddenly in my early twenties, and for a few years I was convinced it was related to my birth control. A few months ago, I decided to get to the root of the problem. I switched birth controls (probably too many times) trying to find "the one" that would make my acne go away. Unsurprisingly, nothing worked. I was also experiencing hair loss (which I was also convinced was because of my birth control pills). I tried EVERYTHING - masks, creams, antibiotics, DOZENS of supplements (the only one which seemed to work slightly was DIM-Plus), even spironolactone, essential oils, cutting out dairy, cutting out sugar - seriously, everything. After visiting 5 doctors in two months, I stumbled across a forum where someone mentioned gluten. I had always thought it was a "fad" diet, and never gave much credence to it. However, since I had nothing to lose, I decided to give it a go. On day two - yes, TWO - I noticed a difference. By day 4, my cystic acne had flattened and I wasn't noticing any new breakouts. I am not on week 2 of being gluten-free, and my face is clearer than it has been in YEARS. No new pimples - all cystic acne gone. I'm just dealing with getting rid of the scarring now, but even most of the redness is gone. I am telling you: if nothing seems to work, and you can't figure out the reason for your cystic acne, give the gluten-free diet a try. It could be the answer you've been looking for!

Cutting gluten from my diet is the only thing that ever genuinely fixed my cystic acne. I still occasionally get small pimples and some hormonal acne, but nothing like before. Had to cut it for 6 months -- not even a little bit of soy sauce, NOTHING with even a trace of gluten -- to notice the difference. WORTH IT. I can live without it. I eat rice pasta and rice bread, I eat tamari instead of soy sauce. I live in Toronto so it's easy to get yummy things like gluten-free cinnamon buns, sandwiches, and stuff like that all over the place. I don't care why gluten-free has become a fad but thank god it has because it's so much easier these days than it used to be to eat out (especially me also being vegan... luckiest girl in the world because I live with someone who works at a vegan/gluten-free bakery). Anyway, when I "cheat" and have some non g-free beer or a little bread or something if I'm visiting family, I get cystic acne around my eyebrows, chin and ears within a couple of days and it takes FOREVER to go away. I'm 100% certain it is connected. Now I just have to deal with the scars. Please try this. There are no side effects and it's not as much of an inconvenience as you probably imagine. You can still eat what you eat now, just different versions of it. Been off gluten for a few years now and I wish I'd done it sooner.

I've been mostly gluten-free for the past 2 and a half years, although not perfectly but now I'm getting better and better at avoiding gluten. My forehead is CLEAN! I don't use any OTC products or drugs there and I have no pimples there. Whenever I have even a minimal amount of gluten, I do get terrible and painful pimples on my forehead that don't go away for 2 weeks no matter what I do. If I eat a lot of gluten (like I used to), my forehead will look like a minefield (like it used to). However, I still got pimples before my period and as a result of stress and so on. So now with a better sleep, benzoyl peroxide (I don't apply it on my forehead) and a topical antioxidant, my face is clear! I have a perfect complexion and I don't need to wear a lot of foundation. I used to have anemia too, now not anymore! Maybe I have Celiac but to get tested I need to binge on gluten for 3 months which is not gonna happen any time soon. Anyway, I finally have perfect skin, I wear sunscreen every day and I look and feel good!

Like some people here, I've had acne since I was 15 years old. Being 23 now, I've tried every over the counter cream and suffered many painful cysts. After reading some reviews for inositol, which is mostly for women with PCOS, I decided to give it a try. It helped significantly at first, but it wasn't enough. I still had the occasional cyst and white heads. Later, I discovered that my father is allergic to gluten and my mother is sensitive to it. This encouraged me to eliminate gluten from my diet for at least a week and see what my results would be. Today is day five of my gluten-free diet and my face has NEVER felt so smooth! My currents cysts are very flat and almost gone, and there are no new nodules on my face. There's also a difference in my level of energy and mood. Overall, I feel great! I'm still taking inositol because it helps, but that's it. I'm so glad something finally works!

I have not touched gluten in two months now, but I'm still breaking out in cystic pimples. I used to have severe acne (a side-effect after coming off the pill), it's a lot better now but still moderate. I am also taking antibiotics at the moment and I think those are the reason why my acne is getting better, but since it's quite easy to stay away from gluten I don't see a reason not to do it. It's hard at first but as you get used to it, it's easy to stay away from bread, pasta, cookies... It's a healthy choice of life but I'm afraid it doesn't take away acne. Not for me, at least.