Introducing the 5 star acne hormones…
So now we’ve set the scene and we are thinking about our hormones in the context of our overall health and physiology, check out an earlier blog ‘Hormonal acne; are you missing these 3 steps in your healing’ if you haven’t already, let’s dive deeper into the main hormones associated with hormonal acne.
1. Cortisol - dysregulated cortisol levels can disrupt every other hormone in the body. Regulating this hormone is always a focus with my patients and I’ve yet to have a client without some level of nervous system dysregulation feeding into their symptoms 🛑. You can chuck all the fancy supplements and skincare at your acne, but if you aren’t working to support your stress adaptation expect the spots to continue coming 😩.
2. Insulin - elevated insulin levels lead to elevated androgen levels, and androgens can lead directly to increases in sebum production and acne. This can be compounded with certain genetic SNP's and nutrient depletions 🎢.
3. Testosterone - is part of the androgen family and gets converted to two different forms, one of which is more potent (and acne forming) than the other. An enzymes called 5 alpha reductase is responsible for this conversion, and our genes can tell us how this enzyme likes to work. I use Lifecode Gx for DNA testing, 🧪 their new hormone panel tells us valuable information about how our body preferentially makes, metabolises and utilities sex hormones and can be really helpful in unlocking hormonal acne. I share more info on testing at the end of this email so don't stop here!
4. Oestrogen - our go getter hormone 💃. Think of oestrogen as your best friend who always wants to go out! She peaks around ovulation and then declines into the second half of our cycle….a bit like me around 9pm 🤣.
Imbalances in our oestrogen to progesterone levels are common, especially during the pre menstrual phase and peri menopause. The reasons for this are beyond the scope of this blog post, but essentially a situation of unopposed oestrogen can occur when there it ‘too much’ oestrogen to progesterone. A common cause of this is poor gut health where oestrogens get circulated back into the system because of an imbalance in gut bugs.
Oestrogen also has an intense relationship with something called histamine, a chemical made by the body as part of its immune response. When oestrogen levels rise, so do histamine and a vicious cycle can occur promoting inflammation and common side effects including food sensitivities and reactions, PMS, gut disturbances, rashes and flushing, acne, cramping, heavy periods. This is especially common in conditions such as endometriosis.
5. Progesterone - the yin to oestrogen 🙏. Think of progesterone as your chilled best friend. For most women progesterone is good for mood, calms anxiety and promotes sleep, predominantly because it converts to a neurosteroid called allopregnanolone (ALLO) which bathes GABA receptors in the brain, the major ‘off switch’ in the central nervous system. Progesterone levels are at their highest in the second part of your cycle, after ovulation and before you bleed, and pregnancy.
Sometimes it can be that our body produces enough progesterone, but our GABA receptors don’t do well at receiving the message resulting in symptoms of anxiety and PMDD peaking in the week before your period 🥺
Progesterone is linked to acne as it’s made from cholesterol, just like cortisol and androgens are. So how are body preferentially makes and uses progesterone, is related to how it makes and uses cortisol and testosterone.
SNP’s, or typos, on the genetic coding of your hormones can result in more or less progesterone being available, and more or less cortisol and testosterone being made. This is information that can be found out in the DNA Hormone Panel 🧐, in my eyes one of the best investments you can make into your reproductive health as unlike other functional tests, genes don't change over time!
If you are ready to dive deeper into the role your genes are having in your hormonal acne, why not book in a call with me and find out if you would be a good fit for DNA hormone testing?
And more info on the DNA Hormone report can be found here.
