Acne and Hormones

Acne and Hormones

We have much of the role of hormones,in acne and it is worth saying a little bit more about them before answering more questions. The hormones that are important in acne are the sex hormones, which star being produced in larges quantities from puberty. Androgens such as testosterone are the main male hormones,and progesterone and oestrogen are the female ones.
It may seem strange that women produce some male hormones, but the oestrogen is made from testosterone by special cells in the ovaries.
No all of it is used, so some does pass into the blood stream and circulates round the body.
The female hormones can have a modifying effect on the action of the testosterone,which is why hormonal changes and treatments apply only to women. In general progesterone will tend to make acne worse and oestrogen will make it better by making the skin less responsive to testosterone.

My daughter has not started her periods yet (she is 15) but has had spots for the past two years. I thought you had to have your periods before getting spots. is this likely to improve once she stars her periods?

Starting periods is only one of the changes associated with puberty. Her level of hormones heve probably been rising for several years and will have had other effects on her body such as growth of breasts and sprouting hair in the pubic area.
She is probably normal but occasionally there are some problems with the mix of hormones that can produce bad acne and stop periods, so it may be worth discussing things with her doctor.



I´ve been told that there might be a problem with my ovaries and that is why I get acné . If this is so, what is it, and why do boys get acné?

You might have a condition called Polycystic Ovaries. To understand this condition you have to know a little bit
About how the ovaries work. They contain specialised cells that produce eggs and the hormones to make the eggs mature ready for fertilisation and to maintain a pregnancy if conception occurs. Lots of eggs try to mature together and come up to the surface of the ovariy in separate “packages” (follicles) with the hormone-producng cells.
Usually , one of the follicles becomes dominant and grows into a fluid-filled sac, or cyst, which then bursts to release the egg. This cyst can measure 2 cm before it bursts. If the egg is not fertilised, the whole process stars again .
Polycystic ovaries occur when twice as many follicles as normal star to grow each month and none of them emerges as the dominant one. We do not yet understand why this happens but the result is that many follicles survive to form cyst. These are smaller than the normal single cyst-5-8mm- and gradually collect on the outer part of the ovary. “poly” just means “many” ; and all these extra cysts make the ovary twice its normal size.
As well as being larger, a polycystic ovary does not work as well. Slightly higher levels of testosterone are produced and it is not changed into oestrogen as efficiently. This leads to more testosterone getting into the blood stream and affecting your skin , to cause acné. Boys have a higher levels of testosterone because it is their main hormone.

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