Many people around the globe ask these questions hoping to get a clear answer and a strategy on how to beat their acne forever.
Yet many mistakenly think that acne is a skin problem!
Acne is a symptom of a deeper problem. It is crucial to understand that pimple is the result of biochemical reactions inside of you. Your skin always gives you clues of what is going on inside of your body. Only getting to the root cause will lead you to a lasting sustainable result.
To give the best answer, we first have to understand:
What acne is in the first place?
How is it formed?
What triggers acne formation?
Strategy to stop your face from breaking out!
What is acne and how is it formed?
f you take a close look, you will see little openings or pores. Underneath the pore, you have a hole, which is called the follicle. There are also sebaceous glands that secrete sebum (oil). They attach to the hair follicle.
Acne is a defect of the follicle. In which case, the cells that line the follicle divide very rapidly. More rapidly than they usually do. That forms a blockage. Which, in turn, creates a jam for the sebum that is produced by the sebaceous glands. As a result, it can’t get out to the surface, remaining trapped.
In case there is no skin covering the blockage on the skin’s surface, the blackhead forms. The sebum acquires a blackish color because of the oxidation of the fat by oxygen.
If the plugged follicle is closed off by a covering of skin, it appears white. This white bump is called a whitehead.
Both blackheads and whiteheads can remain on the skin for an extended period of time without causing an inflamed zit.
If bacteria get trapped in there, then you will be dealing with an inflamed zit.
What triggers the formation of acne?
When you deal with acne, you need to figure out why the follicle cells divide rapidly. Therefore, address the root cause of acne formation.
In most cases, vitamin deficiencies cause rapid cell division: essential fatty acids and fatty vitamins, like Vitamin A and D.
I want to emphasize on Vitamin A as it controls the growth of cells and stabilizes it. Vitamin D, in turn, has anti-inflammatory properties. You may have already noticed that when you go out in the sun, your acne calms down. The best way to get Vitamin D is from the sun. However, in winter-time or in places where you cannot get the required daily amount of Vitamin D, it is a good idea to supplement it.
Essential fatty acids control the thickness of the sebum that your body produces. They liquify the sebum and help to prevent blockages in the follicle.
The second reason why your cells proliferate so fast is the excessive amounts of testosterone. It is a male hormone that is present in both men and women. This type of androgen is a growth hormone. In large quantities in the body causes high cell proliferation, which triggers acne.
But the bigger problem is DHT- Dihydrotestosterone, which is a SUPER growth hormone. DHT is essential for in utero differentiation and growth of the prostate gland, the male external genitalia (penis and scrotum), and pubertal growth of facial and body hair.
Excess amounts play an essential role in several human diseases, including acne, hirsutism, male pattern baldness, benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH), and prostate cancer.
In women, ovaries produce too many androgens if they have a condition called PCOS (Polycystic ovarian syndrome). In men, adrenal and testicular tumors may cause abnormally high androgens in their bodies.
What causes our bodies to have an excess amount of androgens?
1. Insulin. Excess androgens can be induced by insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia, as they reduce sex hormone-binding globulin levels, leading to a subsequent increase in free androgens and unfavorable metabolic profiles.
2. Certain Vitamin deficiencies. The key player in helping your body processing testosterone is Zinc. Zinc stimulates collagen production as well as wound healing. It is a vital mineral in basically any process that happens in your body. Moreover, zinc deficiency is one of the most common nutritional deficiencies.
3. An excessive amount of stress causes adrenal fatigue.
Strategies to stop your face from breaking out!
1. Keep your insulin low. Watch your carbohydrate intake. Ideally is keeping it below 50 g per day until you normalize your blood sugar.
2. Give up on refined sugar and hidden sugar from bread, crackers, cereal, pasta, etc.
Be careful with high glycemic index foods. Sweet fruits, dried fruits, starchy vegetables cause high spikes of insulin.
3. Intermittent fasting is a great tool to regulate insulin in the body.
4. Support the liver. It is a phenomenal detoxifier. In today’s world, we carry many toxins that our liver has to excrete from our bodies. However, it requires sufficient quality nutrients to do so. Under constant stress, food choices, and mineral deficiencies, our liver cannot work at its full capacity. Include in your diet milk thistle, dandelion root, artichokes, dandelion root, cruciferous vegetables ( broccoli, cabbage, radishes, arugula, bok choy, cauliflower) to help your liver excrete toxins from your body.
5. Supplements like chromium and magnesium are essential.
Vitamin A and D.
The best source of Vitamin A is Cod liver oil. If you are vegan, make sure you consume foods rich in Beta carotene like sweet potatoes, squash, spinach, oranges.
The sun is the best provider of vitamin D. However, if you spend all day inside, consider supplementing Vitamin D.
6. Enough sleep. If you don’t get enough sleep, you wake up in an insulin-resistant state. Moreover, sleep deprivation causes an increased sense of worry, anxiety, low energy level. As a result, you may develop adrenal fatigue, which messes up your hormonal balance.
7. Treating your skin from existing acne lesions and inflammation is crucial too. More details about the best procedures for acne skin you can find on our blog - BEST FACIALS FOR ACNE.
To Summarize!
Sebaceous glands are susceptible to hormones and their fluctuations. Particularly to male hormone - testosterone.
Acne is hyperproliferative cell disease. The cells divide too rapidly, causing the blockage in the follicle. Under the condition of hypergrowth and a lack of nutrients like zinc, vitamin A, D, essential fatty acids that stabilize growth, you experience acne lesions.
Treating the root cause of acne will give you the best results!