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Adult Acne Blog - 2003: May 2003
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, nurse, nutritionist, herbalist, or otherwise medically trained person.
I am an ordinary person who has suffered from adult acne since 1995 and have found no solution to my acne through conventional medicine.
May 7, 2003
posted by Colleen Shirazi at
12:45 PM (Pacific)
Okay! I just put a poll on the Makeup Alley Skincare Board (it's a nice place, you might want to check it out). Here are the original questions:
.) How old are you now, and how old were you when you "got" adult acne? Was there ever a time in your life when you didn't have acne?
2.) Do you remember anything specific that happened right before you got adult acne?
3.) Anyone here old enough to have had adult acne, and now it's completely gone?
4.) Anyone with acne grow up as a vegetarian? (Wondering if there's any connection between hormones in meat and acne.)
5.) I've read that "high fructose corn syrup" is metabolized differently from plain cane sugar...and that high fructose corn syrup is subsidized by the government (U.S.) ie, we're eating more of it now than before. I see some people here have cut out sweets to good effect...anyone think there's a connection?
6.) How many acne sufferers are taking supplements and what are they? Results?
7.) What country do you live in? (Seems to me the most adult acne complaints come from U.S. and Canada.)
8.) Is there anyone else in your family with acne? (Wondering if there's anything to the "genes" theory.)
9.) Have you ever used hormone-based birth control and what kinds (brands)? Did you use it before you got acne?
I got 16 responses (including mine).BTW, I am going to write the code for a CGI poll here to make a more scientific version of this poll. I would really like everyone who visits this page to take an acne poll, but I will need to write the code for that and I am burned out of writing code for now. I just finished (?) thebroadroom's Forums (wanna see 'em? click here). That's more Perl than I want to see for at least a couple of weeks.
Here are the results:
16 people responded to the poll
The average current age of the poll-takers is 29
The average age the acne started is a little over 20-1/2
The average number of years between the start of the acne and the current age is 7.73
(someone didn't give her current age so it's a little off)
We had 4 people whose acne "came and went", 12 who still have acne
As far as the triggers of acne--
5 people said there was nothing specific
4 cited stress
3 cited going off birth control pills
2 cited starting birth control pills
2 cited weight loss (one was anorexia and another plain weight loss)
1 cited poor nutrition (could be considered similar to weight loss)
1 cited childbirth
1 cited pregnancy
1 cited using sunscreen regularly
Put another way--
5 said there was nothing specific
5 said it was related to starting/stopping BCP's
4 said it was related to stress
3 said it was related to poor nutrition
2 said it was related to pregnancy/childbirth
1 said it was related to using sunscreen regularly
(these won't add up to 16 because some people gave more than one factor)
No one actually grew up as a vegetarian. One person has been a vegetarian since age 11 (with acne
setting in at age 12).
5 people saw a definite relationship between sugar, or carb, consumption and acne. One person cited a reaction to potato products as causing cystic acne.
Around 3 people didn't see a connection but basically didn't know. 8 people didn't see a connection at all in their own sugar consumption and acne (here I am interpreting people's answers so take it as a ballpark figure).
As far as supplements--
12 people are taking them now. 1 person is planning to try one (milk thistle). 2 people are not taking them, but also stated they don't have acne anymore. 1 person is not taking them and still has acne.
Out of the 12 supplement-takers--
5 stated positive results.
5 stated no results.
2 stated they had just started taking supplements.
Out of the 5 positive results--
2 are taking milk thistle.
4 are taking a B-complex of some sort
(the other one mentioned New Chapters Every Woman and I don't know what that is...)
Out of the 5 no results--
1 is taking milk thistle
3 are taking a multi-vitamin (which could contain a B complex)
3 people are from Canada
13 from U.S.
(to be fair, it's an English-speaking forum)
4 people took hormone-based birth control before they got acne
12 people didn't
11 took hormone-based birth control after they got acne
5 didn't or didn't mention it
Out of those taking h.b.b.c. before acne--
2 said h.b.b.c. helped their acne
2 said it didn't
Also, the ages at which they got acne were
27, 29, 35 and 18
Those that didn't take it before acne were overall younger when they got acne--
15, 23, 12, 17, 25, 13, 17, 12, 16, 35, 25, 10
Which can be looked at, if you were young when you started to get acne, it's not likely you were already on BCP's.
Out of those taking it after acne--
4 said it helped their acne
7 said it didn't
Out of those who said it helped--
2 are taking Yasmin
1 is taking Diane-35
1 didn't mention the brand
Out of those who said it didn't help--
the brands mentioned were
Ortho Cyclen
Ortho Tricyclen
Demulen
Loestrin
Modicon
Nordette
Levora
Estrostep
Note: this is subject to correction in case I messed up anyone's answers. I'll go over it again if someone else responds to the poll.
May 5, 2003
posted by Colleen Shirazi at
6:17 PM (Pacific)
Okee...
Definitely, taking a multi-vitamin has helped my acne. My skin looks good now. It's not perfectly clear, but it's as clear as it has been for years. I can live with this skin. There are a few clogged pores but no pimples.
But, I am not completely happy with the TwinLab Daily One Caps. I think the amounts of some of the nutrients are too much. I don't know what taking excessive nutrients is going to do to me in the long run.
I read on the Net (one of the vitamin-selling sites) that taking too much vitamin A can cause birth defects. (I suppose this is the same logic that says Accutane definitely causes birth defects because Accutane is a concentrated form of vitamin A, right?) Now I've already had my kids, but that's something to consider if you haven't.
The amount of vitamin A that site recommended was 4,000 IU and the Daily One Caps has 10,000 IU.
I checked out a few prenatal vitamins and sure enough, the amount of vitamin A was in the 4,000 - 5,000 IU range.
*sigh* We live in a society where I feel we are forced by conventional medicine into taking pharmaceuticals for everything, ie, there is next to no research for anything falling outside of taking pharmaceuticals for everything. I'm just a regular non-medical person yet, by fiddling around taking vitamins, I've made more of a dent in my acne than any dermatologist or doctor I've seen.
I still don't know exactly which nutrients help with acne or what amounts of them one should take.
I'm going to stick with the Daily One Caps until they're finished, and also look into prenatal vitamins. My logic is that even if supplements are not regulated by the government (as they should be), manufacturers of prenatal vitamins will be extra-careful not to put anything dangerous in them?
On the other hand, what really were my alternatives? More topical acne medications (more $$$ down the drain)? Oral antibiotics? I've heard (reliably) that they can make you pregnant if you're on the Pill or other hormone-based birth control. Accutane? Does anyone know what having taken Accutane might do to you when you get old? Can anyone tell you?
Wouldn't it be easier just to figure out what's causing all this acne? Historically, adult acne is new, but it's been around for years. I've had mine for 7-1/2 years. Has anyone bothered to gather statistics--who has adult acne? How many are women? Of those, which birth control methods have they used (any connection between hormone-based b.c. and acne)? What do they eat? Any specific vitamin deficiencies? Or is it a matter of metabolizing vitamins?
I caught a blip on some local news station saying that people "metabolize" high fructose corn syrup differently than plain old cane sugar. What do they mean by that? They said high fructose corn syrup is subsidized by the government (U.S.) so it's used much more now than before.
Any connection between hormones in meat and acne? Any adult acne sufferers grow up vegetarian?
I'm thinking of making an acne poll...that would be interesting. If everyone with acne, who visited this page, answered those questions, what would the results be?
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