Saw Palmetto

I have had acne for years. Last year I had the worst outbreak I've ever had and my cheeks and jawline were covered in painful red, inflamed acne. It was not a pretty sight and I totally lost my confidence. I went to the doctor and tried several different prescriptions, including 2 different anti-biotics and topical retinoid. Nothing worked. I am sure the retinoid actually scarred my skin. Anyway, I realised that my acne must be hormonal. So I researched and discovered that I had symptoms of high androgens ' acne, unwanted hair growth on my chin to name a few. So I researched natural anti-androgens and came across Saw Palmetto. I took it, and I'm not joking, within 3 days I was barely getting any new spots! Usually I would break out almost daily! My skin continued to get better and better. At the start of this year, I came across a supplement called SkinClear Elixir by a brand called Botanycl which people were getting really good results from. I noticed it had Saw Palmetto as one of the main ingredients, so I thought I would switch over to see if it was better than using saw palmetto alone. Ive been taking this for 3 weeks now and my skin has completely cleared, I do not have a single spot on my face and all of the red marks left from the old spots have faded dramatically. And I haven't had any side effects whatsoever. Its amazing and I couldn't be happier! I can go out without any make up on now I don't even need to wear foundation anymore. The supplement has other natural ingredients which I think made it work even better than the regular saw palmetto. I got it on their website but have also seen it on Amazon in the UK. If you have hormonal acne, seriously give this a try!!

In February this year I started getting pimples on my cheeks before my period. This was something new. I had tons of clogged pores and would get 2 or 3 pimples on my chin but never on my cheeks(salicylic acid helped a lot!) . So I started using benzoyl peroxide..my skin looked great for 3-4 month and then I suddenly became allergic to BP and had to stop. Switched back to salicylic acid but that didn't prevent new pimples. I looked horrible way worse than before..I'm not exaggerating. Old cysts wouldn't heal but flare up during ovulation...and new ones would appear. I am in my late 20's.. I haven't cried about my skin in years..probably since I was 18. But I did during that time. It was so bad and I just couldn't get it under control. I thought about getting on BC...but said every month to myself 'wait another month..maybe it gets better'. It didn't. I came across Saw Palmetto on youtube and ordered it ( I was about to order some supplements anyway and ordered Saw Palmetto to save shipping costs) Only after ordering I started my research...in order for it to work it had to be the standardized version. Of course I ordered the wrong version. Then I read some scary stories about it on reddit and decided not to take it. Weeks have passed and my skin wasn't getting any better. I was about to order BC online when I thought 'you don't want to take a herbal supplement because you might mess up your hormones even more..but you are willing to take BC?!?' So I started taking my Saw Palmetto..one pill is 450mg..The first two weeks I took 2 pills and then 4 pills a day. I am about to get my period and I have only two active pimples. I have been taking Saw Palmetto for three month now..and only after two month I saw a difference on my face. My small whiteheads on my chest were gone in 2 weeks. I'll finish the not standardized version in 4 days and will start taking the standardized pills then. I'll probably take two pills a day ( one pill is 320 mg). If you have hormonal acne Saw Palmetto is definitely something you should try. But only if you have too much testosterone. If you have been on BC and have acne I think Vitex is more for you. I also lose much less hair than before and my boobs have gotten bigger. I was pretty happy with mine before..but as long as they don't get too big I don't mind it. I am not a native speaker..so excuse any mistakes.

I started taking Saw Palmetto and it really works. It did make my skin break out in the beginning though. Not terribly but i was getting spots in places i previously never got spots. I nearly stopped taking it because it was breaking me out but i had read previously that it could do this so i just continued. It has been about a month and two weeks now. I have just started my period and that it when my skin is worst, just before it starts. I hardly broke out at all and then i realised.................. yeah it is working. I live in South Africa and the only standardised extract i could find was the GNC brand at clicks. It comes in 160mg. I take one in the morning and one in the evening with food. I also try and drink a cup of spearmint tea everyday which i get at dischem. My skin is looking really good. My nose area used to get really oily at night and i can see the improvement when i wake up, less blackheads there now as well. Also i try and NOT drink coffee because i notice if i do, i get spots the next day. Make sure you take standardised extract. Remember Jesus loves you :)

I have suffered from acne ever since I was a teenager. I have been on and off the BC pill (Yasmin) for over ten years to treat my acne. Every time I went on the pill, my skin would clear up. Every time I went off the pill, my face was ridden with painful cystic acne. It was unsightly, embarrassing and affecting my confidence and social life. I constantly had lesions on my face that were painful and inflamed. After coming off the pill at age 31, (my migraines with auras no longer made it an option due to an increased risk of stroke), I was forced to look elsewhere for treatment. My dermatologist told me my only options were BC or antibiotics. I began experimenting with altering my diet and taking different herbal supplements for 2 years, yet I was seeing no results. It was beginning to hopeless. When I finally started taking Saw Palmetto, my acne decreased within 4 days. Within just over a week, my skin was looking much better. I was shocked by how quickly it worked. I can't say enough good things about this supplement. I know that every person's acne cause is individualized. However, if you suffer from hormonal acne, please try it. I am writing this review in hopes that it may help another person who is suffering from acne. I understand how frustrating and difficult it is. I wish you good luck, and please know that you are not alone in your journey. ðŸ'"

I am a 23 yo female of Southeast Asian descent. I have had acne since I was 11, 12. But I had noticed more hormonally influenced "cystic acne" since I was 18+. I have used everything you can imagine from the dermatologist's office, except accutane (worried about side effects and all). Spironolactone worked well for me but it would cause me to have my menstrual cycle at least every 2 weeks. SO I switched to birth control, that was probably the worst mistake I have ever made. I was on Alesse for 2 years and I wanted to take myself off of it because it made me gain weight. I had a sudden burst of facial hair and acne came back with a revenge. I have also tried so many DIY treatments, turmeric, chaana dal paste, yogurt, rose water, anything and everything I can get my hands on. Since then I researched a lot and my dermatologist recommended spironolactone again but I decided to go with saw palmetto 160 mg twice a day, along with zinc 50 mg, and Vit D3 1000 IU. It has been barely 2 weeks and have noticed a lot of improvement. I did go through an initial purge for a couple days but started to dry out thereafter. I noticed my face to be less oily and facial hair is also coming back definitely A LOT slower than prior to use. I truly recommend this for anyone who seems like they are running out of options and do not want to switch to accutane. Acne is really a struggle and it may seem like it is not a big deal. But no one really understands unless they are going through it themselves. Again, I have only been using for almost 2 weeks. But I really do like the results so far. Continuing your acne regimen in addition to saw palmetto will help with process. I rated it as 4 stars because of the initial purge and that this is not a cure, maybe I'm being too picky but I wish the acne would go away forever and be one less thing to stress about.

I thought this would help. As an 18 year old male with hormonal acne I thought these supplements that are proven by some studies to block DHT from getting to your head (which makes your hair fall out and controls your sebaceous glands thus causing acne ) were truly going to work. Unfortunately as far as I could tell they made my acne worse for some reason, I stopped taking them.

Hey guys, I have a question: I'm currently taking 22 capsules of 160mg Saw Palmetto Extract a day. I take 10 in the morning, 2 at lunch, 10 at night. I just recently went off Spironolactone and I found it helped me go off the Spiro with less of an impact on my acne. I started with the recommended dose of 320mg per day (2 capsules a day) originally, but eventually I've increased it to the above amount, as i noticed i was getting cysts again and i wanted to stop them. As far as im aware there are no side effects to taking a very high dose of Saw Palmetto. I asked my Naturopath if there is a recommended dose and he said their wasn't. Since taking this high dosage I haven't had any new cysts. The only thing I've noticed is that my nipples are quite sore and tender and my breasts are larger. Any advice is appreciated!! Thanks :)

I have hormonal acne and would roughly have about 10 active spots on my face at one time (along with lots of scars) often in an irritated cluster. I started taking saw palmetto about a month ago, two capsules twice a day with meals and the results are really really good. It worked almost straight away, literally the next day i noticed that my skin was smoother, looked and felt less irritated and red. But the main thing was that from when i took it I had NO NEW SPOTS which is literally the dream. Like over the two weeks that i first took it i maybe had one or two new spots appearing in total but thats perfectly fine, i mean i used be getting 5 or 6 a day! My scars have faded a lot and my skin looks nearly perfect! and it was soooo bad before.... I did also stop eating dairy at this time, start taking starflower and evening primrose oil twice a day and multivitamins and probiotics, but i did some experimenting to isolate the effect of the saw palmetto. For about 10 days i stopped taking it (because i ran out), but kept taking everything else and my skin went back to being oily, irritated and producing about 5 spots a day. I was really upset but then when i got some more and took it again, within ONE DAY there were no more spots at all!!!! I feel like a new person its honestly changed my life. The best bit it how quickly it works, Ive taken various prescribed pills before from the doctor and had horrible experiences with dianette taking 6 months to work for me, and making my skin much worse before it started working and yasmin making me fat.... Saw Palmetto worked immediately did not make my skin worse first and had also made me feel less bloated and my body feel more like mine (bonus!) I cant believe they dont offer this on the NHS or as a rule at whatever doctor or derm you go to! This should be everywhere its changed my life!!!!!!! thoroughly recommend!!! Note - I also put topical benzyl peroxide on my skin every night, and sudocrem to help the scarring and tea tree oil, and did full cleanse every day etc..... but ive been doing exactly that for years and seen no change... until i took saw palmetto. Also note i have PCOS related acne so i dont know if that makes a difference in terms of it working for you or not. I hope it works for everyone as well as it did for me!!! and if it doesnt, dont worry you will find something soon i promise, Ive been searching for years to only get lucky now

I really wanted to like this! It made me lose weight which was nice but I also lost my period and its been 2 months without it which is concerning. I only took it for 2 months but I didnt want to risk screwing anything up since I wont have medical insurance for another few weeks. Didnt help with oiliness. i was taking 250mg twice a day with pygeum

Oily, hormonal acne skin. I have taken it off and on for about eight months now and daily for two, and I am not sure if it helps my skin. It did not make a difference before I took vitex, but I'll take anything that helps regulate hormones.