Acne testing plays a crucial role in diagnosing the specific causes of acne because the causes can vary significantly from one person to another. By identifying the underlying factors, such as hormonal imbalances, bacterial overgrowth, inflammation, gut dysbiosis, or compromised detoxification, acne treatment plans can be individually tailored so as to address these root causes rather than just their symptoms.
The importance of getting your acne tested via saliva hormone testing, urine hormone testing and gut microbiome testing is critical because this allows treatment to go beyond surface level improvements. As well, these more advanced types of tests are far more informative than the very basic tests a dermatologist recommends because they reveal the root cause of your acne.
Testing your acne enables you to move past Band-Aid treatments like over-the-counter creams, cleansers, soaps and prescribed medications like isotretinoin, antibiotics (clindamycin, doxycycline and minocycline) and the birth control pill.
Read on to discover more benefits of getting your acne tested.
1 – Improves Overall Health and Identifies Underlying Issues
The skin is often referred to as a mirror of our overall health, reflecting both our internal well-being and external influences. Changes in the skin, such as the development of acne (acne vulgaris), can indicate underlying health issues such as hormone imbalances and inflammation. Understanding this connection can be crucial for effective acne treatment and management.
2 – Address the Five Triggers of Acne
Are you unwittingly triggering your acne? Check out these five common triggers of Acne.
1. Testosterone levels
Elevated testosterone levels play a part in the over-production of sebum, the skin’s natural oil. Excess oil creates blocked pores which then become inflamed cystic pimples.
2. Imbalance of Estrogen and Progesterone
Progesterone is a calming hormone that reduces skin follicle size and in turn reduces the ability for cystic pimples to form. In some cases, women can have lowered progesterone levels and elevated estrogen levels at a time of their cycle when this is not supposed to happen (after ovulation through to the period).
When this occurs, the skin becomes more prone to developing cystic pimples and you experience a premenstrual breakout.
3. Working out too much
Exercise helps you in so many ways, but when you do too much intense exercise, it sends a message to your body that you are under physical stress. As a consequence the body releases stress hormones and this can impact your ability to ovulate and produce female hormones. Suppressed female hormones allow testosterone to exert more of an effect than it should and trigger pimple formation.
If too much exercise is combined with a very low-calorie diet, it can trigger an issue called ‘hypothalamic amenorrhea’. This is where the body suppresses ovulation to avoid pregnancy in times of physical stress. Low female hormone production is the result and allows testosterone to exert an excessive effect and trigger acne.
4. Stress
Stress whether it is psychological, emotional, spiritual or physical can cause excess production of the stress hormone cortisol. Which, if produced in excess, can impact your female hormones. Over time, chronically elevated cortisol has a suppressive effect on female hormone production and throws out the balance of female to male hormones. In addition to this cortisol makes sebum thicker and more comedogenic.
Stress also impacts eating and exercise behaviours, which can lead to poor food choices and excess hormone dysregulation.
5. Diet
- Sugar – Sugar can cause breakouts by increasing your blood sugar levels and creating inflammation. If you consume too much sugar in the long term, it can lead to insulin resistance, a condition that impacts hormones and reproductive health and triggers the overproduction of androgens like testosterone.
- Dairy – For some, a protein in cow’s milk called casein can increase a molecule called insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1). This in turn can impact your blood sugar and hormone levels because it acts like the hormone insulin. As with insulin, IGF-1 can cause an increase in androgens like testosterone which causes acne breakouts. Therefore, it can be helpful to reduce or remove dairy products from your diet to make sure it isn’t a problem for you while you’re investigating the root cause of your acne. Eliminating dairy is the easiest way to determine if your acne is dairy-sensitive, and you need to give it a 3 month trial before slowly reintroducing it.
- Gluten – For some, gluten (a protein found in the grain’s wheat, spelt, rye and barley) is inflammatory and can increase the severity of breakouts. For others, it causes serious food intolerance or even coeliac disease, so it’s important to take note if you are experiencing symptoms when you consume gluten-containing foods. One of the challenges with gluten is it comes in foods like bread, pizza, and pasta which are delicious carbohydrates that are easy to overindulge in. So it’s best to keep these foods to a minimum or avoid them if you think they are causing symptoms. Fortunately, there are plenty of naturally gluten-free choices, such as brown rice, quinoa, or potato.
3. Avoids Harsh Topical Treatments
Topical treatments and conventional acne medications are good at stripping away and clearing excess oil, killing acne-causing bacteria, helping suppress oil production and reducing inflammation to promote healing. But they don’t get the whole job done.
The reason for this is that, by their very nature, they’re superficial treatments. They don’t actually get to the underlying cause of acne as they only work on the surface. They don’t correct hormone imbalances, as these are internal issues, which means they don’t stop oil glands from overproducing oil or stop hormones from inflaming skin pores and creating big, deep, nasty cystic-type pimples.
The primary cause of hormonal acne is androgen hormones such as testosterone. Androgens hyperstimulate the sebaceous glands in the skin to produce excess sebum which leads to clogged follicles, inflammation and breakouts. So if you have used countless topicals like benzoyl peroxide, glycolic acid, retinoids and other actives, as well as the antibiotic route and contraceptives but you still suffer flare-ups of bumps and pustules on your face, neck, chest or back this is because the hormone issue hasn’t been fixed.
In women, other hormones like estrogen and progesterone are a factor too. Female menstrual cycles ebb and flow continuously with the rise and fall of these two hormones which have a very positive effect on the skin. Their effect on acne breakouts is seen most dramatically with the birth control pill. In 9 out of 10 cases, when a women with acne takes the birth control pill her acne will clear.
Now there is a big problem with using hormonal birth control for acne. Once you stop the acne returns because the pill didn’t fix the underlying hormone imbalance, it just masked it.
Therefore to fix acne in a sustainable way we need to look beyond harsh topical treatments and suppressive medication to ways that naturally bring hormones back to balance.
As Naturopaths, this is we work with our patients. We create individualised treatment plans tailored to their symptoms, overall lifestyle and diet. Our natural treatment programs are easily personalised for any client and address hormonal imbalances naturally, giving sustained long-term improvements rather than temporary fixes.
When balancing hormones naturally, we look into the root cause of your symptoms by testing your hormones first before prescribing supplements. Our motto is… test don’t guess!
Testing is very important as it enables us to understand what is happening with your hormones instead of guessing what’s gone wrong and what hormones are out of balance. Testing enables us to pinpoint what hormones are high and what are low so we can prescribe a targeted wholistic herbal and nutritional medicine program to clear your complexion.
4. Stops the Breakout Cycles
Saliva testing is a well validated tool for understanding the underlying factors that contribute to acne. It is able to determine hormone levels such as androgens (e.g., testosterone), cortisol, DHEA, estrogen and progesterone. Imbalances of these hormones can be inflammatory and contribute to skin irritation and redness.
Gut microbiome testing is another tool we utilise for acne. This test can determine the ratio of good and bad gut bacteria, if there are any parasites and harmful pathogens present in the gut, as well as the presence of a particular enzyme (beta glucuronidase) all of which can contribute to hormone detox problems.
These testing tools help address the root cause rather than just the symptoms, leading to more stable skin health, and reducing the likelihood of future breakouts and irritation.
The value of testing is it offers a comprehensive view of the underlying factors contributing to acne. By identifying and addressing these root causes, you can achieve lasting skin improvements and mitigate future impacts of stress and inflammation on your skin.
5. Saves you Time and Money!
Now if you are tired of using over-the-counter products that at best only give you temporary results then book an initial appointment with one of our acne specialist naturopaths today. It will save you time, money and emotional stress.
During your consultation we will gather a detailed review of your acne history and overall health. We will cover your reproductive hormone health, gut health, skin health, immune health, diet and lifestyle and refer you for the tests we think will be best for your situation.
Investing money in testing ensures we gather the information we need about your hormones and how they are causing your acne. Then armed with that information we can then focus on the right herbs and vitamins you need to make your skin picture perfect.
Not doing testing could mean spending money on months and months worth of medication or supplements that may not be right for you or only provide a Band-Aid solution. Investing in testing means you’re saving time and money by looking deeper into the problem and pinpointing the exact natural medicines that will give you long-term results without harmful side effects.
Test, Don’t Guess!
Here at the Happy and Healthy Wellbeing Centre we have treated 2,000+ clients with hormonal acne. We empathise with you and understand what you’re going through on this tough journey. We have been able to turn many women’s lives around with our holistic natural acne treatments. One you may have heard of is Sarah from Sarah’s Day.
Book an initial consultation so we can get your hormones tested and your hormones balanced with a personalised treatment plan so you can have picture perfect looking skin. Being proactive now will decrease the risk of your acne worsening in the long term and help boost your self-esteem and confidence. Be like our many patients who don’t have to worry about wearing make-up anymore. To book you can contact us or click here to book online. If you aren’t local to us, that’s okay! We offer online consultations using Zoom. So let’s get to the bottom of your hormone health today.
