Hormonal Acne Treatment

Lots of women know this: painful feelings, changes of mood, bloating and skin problems. It is widely known that acne is caused by hormonal changes, but the exact reason is rather unclear as there has never been any profound research. Women start encountering hormonal acne flare-ups, as the studies confirmed, a week before their period.

Regular treatment such as topical retinoids and topical antibiotics may not be good solutions for hormonal acne treatment. There are some things that can help the doctor diagnose acne provoked by hormonal changes:

• The character of acne is temporary and the breakout occurs for the first time.
• Acne breakout always takes place prior to the menstruation
• A record of unbalanced menstrual cycles
• Increased oiliness of your face;
• Excessive pilosis (hair overgrowth and hair in the abnormal places of body)
• Increased level of typical androgens in blood

Hormonal Acne

Hormonal acne usually begins at the age of 20 or 25 but it also can disturb teenagers and mature women, and is very persistent in women in over 30. Lesions may appear at the lower part of the face, sometimes on the back and chest. If acne is influenced by hormones, there are only rare comedones. Why does this type of acne start?

Usually hormonal acne starts at the age of 9-10 (at prepubescent years). The adrenal glands begin the dihydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) production, which is one of the androgens. Other androgenic hormones - male growth hormone in female's system - like testosterone and dehydrotestosterone (DHT), take part in the pubertal period. These the body's hormones make the skin oil glands to produce more sebum (skin's natural oil).

This is also the reason why teenagers suffer from acne so frequently. And the problem is more typical for boys, because their bodies produce more 'male' hormones. Teenager's acne is easy to treat. Level of hormones is very flexible at young bodies.

First-line treatments will help in most cases and include as topical retinoids and benzoyl peroxide, supported by oral antibiotics. But their bodies change rapidly and they can undergo extreme hormonal shifts. In this case current medications may fail to help. So, to accommodate mentioned above hormonal changes it may be better to adjust hormonal acne treatment courses more often.

Hormonal Acne Treatment

Many women are happy because they don't need hormonal acne treatment at all. Still, some of them may develop hormonal acne when they are 20 or 30. What happens is during a normal menstrual cycle, level of estrogen is at its high point at mid-cycle and subsequently declines at the onset of period. Obviously this is not true for women on hormonal birth control pill.

Ovaries after ovulation produce progesterone and this hormone stimulates the sebaceous glands. Hormonal acne comes as the result of this. Sometimes hormones can also cause hormonal acne in pregnant women. At the time of the third trimester sebaceous glands' active work can provoke unpleasant breakouts.

A number of post-menopausal women continue suffering from flare-ups and look for hormonal acne treatment too. Estrogen levels begin to dip and testosterone takes over as the dominant hormone after menopause. Hormonal acne that comes from a woman's menstrual cycle usually won't leave women as they become older.

If you want to have the best result, try to visit your dermatologist as soon as possible and let him determine the hormonal acne treatment options and choose specific hormonal acne treatment products.