Causes of acne
What causes breakouts and acne?
The combination of hormones, too much oil (the wrong type of oil), excess production of skin and bacteria all contribute towards breakouts. There are of course other factors that will make matters worse like pollution, diet, stress, smoking, and an unhealthy lifestyle. One of the main reasons skin doesn’t clear up when using topical products alone is because all 4 factors are not being treated in synergy. A huge number of clients we see have tried everything out there and spend hundreds trying to treat their skin with no lasting results. But the missing element tends to be that they are not treating their skin internally.
So, how do hormones impact our skin?
If you produce too much oestrogen (or ‘bad’ oestrogen) then this can stimulate oil/sebum and can lead to hormonal breakouts. You can use the best products on the market to treat your skin topically, but if you are not controlling your hormones you are likely to continue to get hormonal breakouts.
How can we control our hormones through supplementation?
There has been recent publicity about a power ingredient to help control oestrogen levels called DIM that is taking the wellness world by storm. DIM is a compound found in cruciferous vegetables like kale and broccoli, which has many benefits when treating breakouts. DIM works to metabolise excess oestrogen through a safer pathway by increasing the ‘good’ oestrogen by-products and simultaneously reducing the ‘bad’ metabolites. This ingredient can be found in Advanced Nutrition Programmes Skin Accumax, which is an essential step to treating acne and breakout prone skin.
So, why can’t we just eat broccoli instead of taking supplements?
Skin Accumax also contains Vitamin A, C & E to maintain healthy skin and has 37.5mg of DIM in 2 capsules, which is the equivalent to consuming 8 broccoli heads every single day. Now, let me repeat that… that’s 8 broccoli heads, not 8 broccoli florets. Every. Single. Day. It is highly unlikely that anyone would eat that much broccoli every day (surely not?!) plus, there is no guarantee that the vitamins needed are even present. The nutritional value in food can vary so much from the way it has been grown, its storage, any refining process and of course the way it has been cooked. Did you know that when vegetables are boiled, they can lose up to 50% of their B vitamins, 50% of their Vitamin C and 20% of their minerals? Also, any nutrients that are left are likely to be used up by your body and organs first and won’t even reach your skin. This is why it is so important to take skin supplements alongside a healthy, balanced diet simply because you want and need the vitamins to reach your skin.
Many clients use the contraceptive pill to control hormones and these can often make things worse in the long run. They don’t balance out your hormones, they tend to have a very strong anti-male hormone which supresses your oil levels and over a long period of time this can be very damaging. As soon as you come off the medication your breakouts will no doubt get much worse (at a very quick pace) due to the surge of oils and hormones that you will experience. In my opinion there are much safer and effective ways to control your skin without taking such drastic steps. I am not claiming to be a nutritionist, dietician, doctor or anything remotely similar. I’m a skin specialist and all the information in this blog I have gathered from extensive training, scientific research and nutrition books. If you want to know more about the effects of the contraceptive pill, I’d highly recommend listening to Skin Deep podcast Ep.2 with Dr Lara Briden by Corinna Tolan on Spotify.
Skin specific supplements have done wonders for not only my skin, but for hundreds and hundreds of clients that have been prescribed them by their skin specialist to take alongside their Environ products. I try to compare it to the gym; you may get results by visiting the gym alone, however doing that alongside a healthy balanced diet and feeding your body correctly you will without a doubt get you better results, and quicker too! The same applies for your skin. When used together, supplements and topical skincare will give you the absolute best results that will last and improve over time.
Do you have further questions? I’d love to hear from you, get in touch and email me at info@hi-therapies.co.uk or drop me a message on instagram @hitherapies