1. When I was a kid, just getting a tan cleared up my acne.
2. Changing my diet helped clean up my acne (not eating junk food)
3. When I was a teenager, I got hurt really bad, and my father found me and had to take me to the hospital. I saw massive acne breakout on his face in less than 15 minutes.
4. When I got older and was less stressed about life, my acne went away. When I got a family/career/house and life stress was severe, acne would come back.
I think there a huge health and stress connection to acne.
When I was a teenager, I saw a dermatologist for my Psoriasis. I somehow wound up with a prescription for tetracycline for my acne. Not only did it not work, but I was constantly sick for a full year after I stopped the medication.
> Changing my diet helped clean up my acne (not eating junk food)
This. Actually, for me, it wasn't really the diet in general, but making a switch to drinking water instead of pretty much any other drink (*especially soft drinks!). I went on a hike for a couple of weeks as a teenager, and I think that not having access to anything but water to drink was enough to change my habits.
I had facial acne bad as a kid, and completely went away sometime when I was 18. I stress a lot (just my personality) but it hasn't come back. Anyway, just throwing out another data point.
PS: Acne as an already awkward and hormone supersaturated kid totally sucked.
Everytime I take a plane somewhere I would have huge acnes in the two , three hour duration of the flight. I always suspected it’s the stress of having to be on time and everthing that flying involves.
i think there is a connection in there, but not quite sure where.
I myself pretty much only ate junk food, although my diet was very low cal. i avoided the sun because i burned very easy, but I was outside a lot. i was always under a high amount of stress, but i never got acne or anything like that
edit: by junkfood, i mostly ate cereal and lots of cookies/candy bars
My daughter had severe acne. She changed her diet from vegetarian to full vegan and it cleared right up, in fact most of the past scaring is also now gone. She still consumes sugar (vegan sugar - yeah that's a thing: https://www.peta.org/living/food/is-sugar-vegan/) and doesn't take vitamin E or D supplements because she hasn't found any that are 'vegan certified.' Given some of the research we've looked at, our going theory is that dairy was the primary cause and there is some support for that: https://www.aad.org/media/news-releases/growing-evidence-sug...
I grew up with cystic acne that persisted into my early 20s, until two courses of Accutane cleared it up.
Anecdotally, I tried everything before going on accutane. I cut out sugar to the point of avoiding fruits with high glycemic indexes. I cut out dairy. I cut out meat. I tried every supplement you can imagine. If you're thinking about asking "but did you try X", don't bother, I did.
Only accutane worked.
Reading studies such as this, as well as the internet discussion regarding acne is a bit frustrating. Yes, there are anecdotes of this and that diet and lifestyle change reducing acne, but there's very little clinical evidence that non medical treatment improves cases of cystic acne, and yes, many diet studies have been performed.
Even this study grossly overstates their conclusions. Studying two primitive societies is not nearly enough data to support the conclusion in the title of this article.
Every acne thread has the inevitable comment about Accutane.
And every comment is essentially the same. It’s the only thing that worked for me.
I still love to read them. I’m still amazed by it. It’s literally the only drug I’ve ever encountered that could truly be called a “magic pill” in that it will permanently cure you of what you are taking it for.
The side effects are pretty crazy though. I had to wear sunglasses even when it was cloudy due to photosensitivy for the months I was taking it. Carried Aquaphor in my pocket for the perpetually dry lips and my whole face pretty much flaked off during the first few weeks.
100% worth it. I get a minor pimple every 6 months or so if I don’t wash my face. It used to be completely covered with acne.
A single round of it when I was 16 totally cleared me up. That was over 20 years ago.
Luckily for me, my mom remembered how my dad's acne in high school left his face scarred, so she got me into a dermatologist at the first signs of cystic acne.
The doctor tried everything on me, and Accutane was the last resort.
I implore:
If you have kids with acne, please, take them to a real skin doctor. Don't rely on unproven treatments like cutting carbs or dairy or meat. You have one chance to get it right, and if you don't, they'll have to live with facial scarring forever.
I see adults with acne or scarring and I am so thankful I was put on Accutane.
Totally anecdotal, but I started taking vitamin D supplements at the suggestion of my doctor because of my family history of colon cancer. I noticed that my acne declined significantly. I'm wondering if it has to do with the amount of time one spends outside in the sun.
Here's the discussion and the paper on vitamin D: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15867918 . TL;DR: make sure to always get at least 8000 IU of vitamin D per day (10 times the RDA) if you want to be healthy and have good bones, skin, mood, sleep, immunity and metabolism.
I have also heard a rumor that recent studies suggest solid vitamin D pills are better than oil capsules. Would be nice if somebody knowing what particular study says this could share a link.
Vitamin D deficiency is common in Saudi Arabia, especially among women - factors include traditional clothes, avoidance of sun, and inadequate dietary intake
I started Vitamin D supplements too, after reading several personal accounts of it being helpful. Still have not come across any good studies proving the effectiveness of taking Vitamin D supplements (TBH I also haven't tried finding any such information either).
I'm always amused/horrified by Hacker News comments on anything health-related. Herein lie a group of incredibly smart individuals sharing anecdotal evidence and folk remedies without a lick of irony.
The HN title should probably say "nonwesternized" (the term used in the abstract) rather than "non-Western" (although the paper subtitle does use "Western"). Still an ambiguous term, but "non-Western population" would usually be understood to include countries like Japan and China, who this study definitely doesn't mean to include.
Why's everybody talking about vitamin D? (Same thing popped up in a Twitter thread I saw about this yesterday.)
As far as I can tell the paper only talks about high insulin loads and refined sugars for etiology? Then again I might have missed something? Seriously, I'm in no way competent to read these papers but all I could see were mentions of insulin spikes and such. Could someone ELI5 what I'm missing?
If you are in the Bay Area check out Acneology or the US Face reality clinics. They basically have the whole science of acne treatment down to almost perfection. Dermatology didn't help me at all but their treatments worked wonders. I'll give out more info if anyone is interested. Source - I've had acne for a decade :( more or less cleared up now.
"As in the Kitava sample, skin infections and intramuscular abscesses were common and responded well to treatment with antibiotics such as erythromycin and tetracycline."
I'll take the occasional zit and cover it up with concealer, thank you very much.
taking a course of antidepressants and making some lifestyle changes during university for depression had the side effect of almost completely clearing up my acne that normal dermatological treatments were unable to deal with. given that there's some kind of biological link between chronic inflammation and depression, i wouldn't be surprised if some acne cases manifested the same way
The double negatives here make this heading really hard to parse (I actually read the abstract thinking something totally different and had to come back to check), maybe something along the lines of
"Acne vulgaris exists predominately in Western populations" or "Acne vulgaris mostly exists in Western Populations" would make it clearer.
TL; DR A 2002 study believes we should explore “dietary interventions using low–glycemic load carbohydrates may have therapeutic potential in the treatment of acne because of the beneficial endocrine effects of these diets.”
Given that all humans share a remarkably high % of genome, and race is a social construct, I'm struggling with the 'this is not genetic' part. Either its a truism, or its backed by strong evidence of no genetic linkage. Because this 'its not your race' thing, applies to almost anything. For instance the supposed Asian intolerance to unmodified milk proteins which has been changing as diet shifts. Is that also now not actually genetically determined?
Human and pig genomics are also very similar. It's not the 98% that make or break these things. Lactose intolerance is inherited and as a result of LCT gene not expressing due to downregulation by another gene MCM6.
As per my personal anecdotal evidence: diet is always key to Acne. I have been suffering from Acne vulgaris, Acne conglobata, and—worst of all—Acne inversa for all my life (26yo), and whenever I fell into bad eating habits with lots of (saturated) fats and carbohydrates, my skin issues are worsening. Western food is just poor quality in general, being heavily processed and “enhanced” and all.
They decided to choose a closed, often tribal cultures for comparison. We can assume they behave as most of us do, mate within the group mostly. So the genes pool/variation differences must be huge between them and Western population (whatever Western means in this context - let's say United States.) On what premises they excluded genetic factor, then?
I'v read a few studies about demodex mites causing chalazion[1]. Demodex mites are something humans picked up from having dogs and cats as pets. Do non-western countries have these animals as pets?
[+] [-] RobertRoberts|8 years ago|reply
2. Changing my diet helped clean up my acne (not eating junk food)
3. When I was a teenager, I got hurt really bad, and my father found me and had to take me to the hospital. I saw massive acne breakout on his face in less than 15 minutes.
4. When I got older and was less stressed about life, my acne went away. When I got a family/career/house and life stress was severe, acne would come back.
I think there a huge health and stress connection to acne.
[+] [-] lj3|8 years ago|reply
There is no moral to this story.
[+] [-] King-Aaron|8 years ago|reply
This. Actually, for me, it wasn't really the diet in general, but making a switch to drinking water instead of pretty much any other drink (*especially soft drinks!). I went on a hike for a couple of weeks as a teenager, and I think that not having access to anything but water to drink was enough to change my habits.
[+] [-] Clubber|8 years ago|reply
PS: Acne as an already awkward and hormone supersaturated kid totally sucked.
[+] [-] schuke|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] autokad|8 years ago|reply
I myself pretty much only ate junk food, although my diet was very low cal. i avoided the sun because i burned very easy, but I was outside a lot. i was always under a high amount of stress, but i never got acne or anything like that
edit: by junkfood, i mostly ate cereal and lots of cookies/candy bars
[+] [-] patcheudor|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] brucephillips|8 years ago|reply
Anecdotally, I tried everything before going on accutane. I cut out sugar to the point of avoiding fruits with high glycemic indexes. I cut out dairy. I cut out meat. I tried every supplement you can imagine. If you're thinking about asking "but did you try X", don't bother, I did.
Only accutane worked.
Reading studies such as this, as well as the internet discussion regarding acne is a bit frustrating. Yes, there are anecdotes of this and that diet and lifestyle change reducing acne, but there's very little clinical evidence that non medical treatment improves cases of cystic acne, and yes, many diet studies have been performed.
Even this study grossly overstates their conclusions. Studying two primitive societies is not nearly enough data to support the conclusion in the title of this article.
[+] [-] SOLAR_FIELDS|8 years ago|reply
And every comment is essentially the same. It’s the only thing that worked for me.
I still love to read them. I’m still amazed by it. It’s literally the only drug I’ve ever encountered that could truly be called a “magic pill” in that it will permanently cure you of what you are taking it for.
The side effects are pretty crazy though. I had to wear sunglasses even when it was cloudy due to photosensitivy for the months I was taking it. Carried Aquaphor in my pocket for the perpetually dry lips and my whole face pretty much flaked off during the first few weeks.
100% worth it. I get a minor pimple every 6 months or so if I don’t wash my face. It used to be completely covered with acne.
[+] [-] brandonmenc|8 years ago|reply
A single round of it when I was 16 totally cleared me up. That was over 20 years ago.
Luckily for me, my mom remembered how my dad's acne in high school left his face scarred, so she got me into a dermatologist at the first signs of cystic acne.
The doctor tried everything on me, and Accutane was the last resort.
I implore:
If you have kids with acne, please, take them to a real skin doctor. Don't rely on unproven treatments like cutting carbs or dairy or meat. You have one chance to get it right, and if you don't, they'll have to live with facial scarring forever.
I see adults with acne or scarring and I am so thankful I was put on Accutane.
[+] [-] jayess|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] qwerty456127|8 years ago|reply
I have also heard a rumor that recent studies suggest solid vitamin D pills are better than oil capsules. Would be nice if somebody knowing what particular study says this could share a link.
[+] [-] verbify|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] georgeott|8 years ago|reply
https://www.grc.com/health/vitamin-d.htm
[+] [-] walshemj|8 years ago|reply
And also Anecdotally I am also on imuno suppressants and touch wood haven't had a cold this winter - yay
[+] [-] sanjeetsuhag|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cal5k|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] _delirium|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ajhurliman|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dbcooper|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] weeksie|8 years ago|reply
As far as I can tell the paper only talks about high insulin loads and refined sugars for etiology? Then again I might have missed something? Seriously, I'm in no way competent to read these papers but all I could see were mentions of insulin spikes and such. Could someone ELI5 what I'm missing?
[+] [-] DeusExMachina|8 years ago|reply
A couple of friends of mine also cured a candida infection by avoiding carbs. So our diet might play a role.
[+] [-] explorigin|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] buckthundaz|8 years ago|reply
The surplus sugar serves as a substrate to allow candida to thrive, not to mention a myriad of other maladies.
[+] [-] t3rmi|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bacar222|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] perardi|8 years ago|reply
I'll take the occasional zit and cover it up with concealer, thank you very much.
[+] [-] sevensor|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] intro-b|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] stochastic_monk|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mtgx|8 years ago|reply
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiVFtRlObZk
[+] [-] buckthundaz|8 years ago|reply
“There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.”
― Henry David Thoreau,
[+] [-] reillyse|8 years ago|reply
"Acne vulgaris exists predominately in Western populations" or "Acne vulgaris mostly exists in Western Populations" would make it clearer.
[+] [-] JumpCrisscross|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ggm|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] CryoLogic|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] katastic|8 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] cageface|8 years ago|reply
https://nutritionfacts.org/video/the-acne-promoting-effects-...
https://nutritionfacts.org/video/saving-lives-by-treating-ac...
[+] [-] janwh|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wst_|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] snarfy|8 years ago|reply
[1] ]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26408604
[+] [-] cmrdporcupine|8 years ago|reply
But all the dermatologists she saw as a teen and young adult... always ridiculed this and insisted it had nothing to do with diet.
[+] [-] markhall|8 years ago|reply