Curing Acne With Keto ?

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ketokasha
ketokasha Posts: 15 Member
Now , I've read acne can be a direct result of diet , insulin , and spiked blood sugars . I've realized in myself that whenever I consume foods high in sugars , my face breaks out . I'm hoping ketosis will eliminate this problem , as I'm turning 20 years old on the 8th and I've had enough of it .

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  • wabmester
    wabmester Posts: 2,748 Member
    edited November 2015
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    Insulin, or more likely, IGF-1, definitely appears to be a factor. A lot of people report improvement, including me. But I don't know if you should expect a cure.

    Some people also report a breakout associated with the early phases on the diet. Ketones, especially acetone, can be excreted through the skin, and that may irritate the skin and cause a breakout.

    Edit: Happy birthday! :)
  • ketokasha
    ketokasha Posts: 15 Member
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    Why thank you ! I suppose only time shall tell ! :)
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
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    Going into ketosis really helped my skin. I constantly had pimples around my mouth, on my scalp and on my back. I used Finacea which helped a bit but not much. When I went LCHF, my skin cleared up within 3 weeks. I now get 1-3 pimples per month rather than the dozen I had at any given moment.
    .
    I also had high levels of IGF-1. It hasn't been checked for a good 6 months, but my IGF-1 was above range (by up to a hundred) or fairly nearly the upper end of the normal range. No idea why. No sign of a pituitary tumor.

    On the plus side, I've always been able to gain muscle easier than most. ;)
  • totaloblivia
    totaloblivia Posts: 1,164 Member
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    I wish I'd found this diet when I was 20! I'd have stayed attractive. Happy birthday!
  • DittoDan
    DittoDan Posts: 1,850 Member
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    I was a diebetic for 10+ years and my high blood sugars caused my face to get acne. Once I got on Keto, it has eliminated it. My diabetic doc told me that the high sugar in your body helps bacteria grow, hence the acne. So, you are on the right track....

    I even mentioned this in my blog a few months ago. Look on the date 03/01/15 on my blog:

    Blog #13 DittoDan's Milestone's, First's And Good Changes Since Starting the Ketogenic Diet Updated

    I hope this helps,
    Dan the Man from Michigan
    Keto / The Recipe Water Fasting / E.A.S.Y. Exercise Program
    Current weight: 194.9, 119 pounds down, 16 to go. 14 months on diet
  • erindellamore
    erindellamore Posts: 46 Member
    edited November 2015
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    Wow I was actually wanting to make a post about this tonight!!
    Keto has done WONDERS for my skin. I work in the skincare industry and always fought adult acne and it was so embarrassing for so long. I always thought my diet was to blame, but my mistake was thinking the culprit was low quality dairy or excess dairy. For me this whole time it was carbs and sugars ruining my skin. Keto has restored a lot of confidence in me, this being one of the many wonderful changes I'm experiencing.
  • ndvoice
    ndvoice Posts: 161 Member
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    I don't think I had clinical acne, but I always broke out with pms. Usually many on forehead & chin. Since starting Keto about 6 weeks ago I've had 1 pimple total. I'm pretty impressed.
  • sweetteadrinker2
    sweetteadrinker2 Posts: 1,026 Member
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    I still get the hormonal, deep evil kind. But im much improved each month compared to the last.
  • KarlaYP
    KarlaYP Posts: 4,439 Member
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    I had the deep, cystic acne that I took an antibiotic for, daily, just to keep it from going crazy breaking out. Much improved and off of the antibiotics!
  • Sunny_Bunny_
    Sunny_Bunny_ Posts: 7,140 Member
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    I had cystic acne for years that antibiotics didn't even do much for. I had noticed it had all cleared up about a month into Keto. However, I may be having some weird hormonal changes because I had a sudden, fairly severe breakout this past week. Not sure what's going on with my skin right now.
  • xmarye
    xmarye Posts: 385 Member
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    Lately my skin was at it worst it's been in a loooong time. Like I'd have 5-10 pimples ready to pop every morning and night. It was SO gross. At some point, I had a patch that would keep growing pimples non stop on my left cheek and the skin was so inflammed that it was starting to get numb on that spot!!! Anyway, I started low carb on Sunday and guess what... Not one more pimple since then and the rest is starting to fade away!!! It's incredible I am so happy. =D
  • mountainrun73
    mountainrun73 Posts: 155 Member
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    I was wondering this myself a few days ago. I don't have acne, but do develop rosacea acne periodically. It flares when I eat "carbage" - particularly gluten grains. I was bad last night and had a couple slices of pizza - my face is a little red this morning (and my belly is not happy with me).

    Has anyone else had experience with rosacea? Glad to hear keto helps with acne!
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
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    I was wondering this myself a few days ago. I don't have acne, but do develop rosacea acne periodically. It flares when I eat "carbage" - particularly gluten grains. I was bad last night and had a couple slices of pizza - my face is a little red this morning (and my belly is not happy with me).

    Has anyone else had experience with rosacea? Glad to hear keto helps with acne!

    I have roseaca but my acne is was not caused by it (I think). I always have red cheeks (in fact I thought it could be the lupus butterfly rash at one point). It gets warm and redder in the sun, cold dry winds (70% of our year LOL), and if I have any alcohol. I'll often get the red nose in the cold and with alcohol too.

    Luckily my roseaca is pretty smooth. Just red. I haven't had to wear blush in 20 years. LOL
  • mountainrun73
    mountainrun73 Posts: 155 Member
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    nvmomketo wrote: »
    I have roseaca but my acne is was not caused by it (I think). I always have red cheeks (in fact I thought it could be the lupus butterfly rash at one point). It gets warm and redder in the sun, cold dry winds (70% of our year LOL), and if I have any alcohol. I'll often get the red nose in the cold and with alcohol too.

    Luckily my roseaca is pretty smooth. Just red. I haven't had to wear blush in 20 years. LOL

    LOL! Thanks for sharing your experience. My rosacea cleared up completely this past spring with a reduction in carb intake and frequent consumption of green smoothies. Now that I'm trying to dow LCHF, I need to find a different green smoothie recipe, as the pineapples and bananas that I love so much are really high in carbs/fructose!
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
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    nvmomketo wrote: »
    I have roseaca but my acne is was not caused by it (I think). I always have red cheeks (in fact I thought it could be the lupus butterfly rash at one point). It gets warm and redder in the sun, cold dry winds (70% of our year LOL), and if I have any alcohol. I'll often get the red nose in the cold and with alcohol too.

    Luckily my roseaca is pretty smooth. Just red. I haven't had to wear blush in 20 years. LOL

    LOL! Thanks for sharing your experience. My rosacea cleared up completely this past spring with a reduction in carb intake and frequent consumption of green smoothies. Now that I'm trying to dow LCHF, I need to find a different green smoothie recipe, as the pineapples and bananas that I love so much are really high in carbs/fructose!

    My green smoothie is spinach, avocado, and possibly one kiwi. I also add stevia drops, but not everyone likes stevia. I find with stevia that less is more or it gets that bitter after taste.

    I'm jealous that your roseaca cleared Up. Mine really hasn't changed.

    ...And I forgot that excitement or stress sets it off too. There was family party today, I had to bring a few platters of gluten-free food so I was busy, plus the basketball team I coach had a game halfway through that I had to leave for (we won -yeah!). I get so excied for games - I should have named the team the rudolf the red nosed b-ballers.
  • Dragonwolf
    Dragonwolf Posts: 5,600 Member
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    I fought acne since I hit puberty until I was about 25, when I started changing my diet toward LCHF. The two biggest culprits in my acne issues were grains and sugars/starches. I even had the unpleasant experience of confirming this the past couple of months.

    I came to LCHF by way of the Primal Blueprint, so I had specifically cut out grains and wasn't in deep ketosis levels of low carb (stuck around 100g carbs per day), and my acne had noticeably cleared up just in that change, though it still wasn't perfect.

    Then, I started dropping my carbs, and in March, I went carnivore/"zero" carb (though still had a fair bit of dairy). My acne noticeably cleared up even more, to the point that it was nearly perfect except for blackheads/clogged pores (which are superficial and easily handled by a good exfoliating wash every so often).

    Then....I went on Metformin a couple of months ago to help deal with PCOS+IR (or try, anyway). It caused food aversions for me, which resulted in my diet drifting more toward starches and away from my previous diet of primarily meat. Acne came back with a vengeance, because of it. Nope, not dealing with that crap. Stopped the Metformin a couple of weeks ago and went back to LCHF (still dealing with the effects of the food aversions; it's hard to get back on that boat when you were literally gagging while trying to eat your staple food, so it's standard LCHF for me for now) and my face cleared back up immediately. Seriously, within a week things were going away and healing back up.
  • radiii
    radiii Posts: 422 Member
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    nvmomketo wrote: »
    I'm jealous that your roseaca cleared Up. Mine really hasn't changed.

    Same, mine seems to be fairly easily managed with Metronidozole (sp?) so it isn't too big a deal for me, but there was no different before or after keto for me.