Last week, I talked about how what we eat and how our internal plumbing affects our skin. A couple of you mentioned taking probiotics and how you derived benefits from it.
Well, when I was doing my personal research, I found that probiotics is definitely helpful for helping with digestion and bowel movement. What it is, is billions of beneficial bacteria introduced into your gut via a capsule or a yogurt or yogurt drink or even a drink like Yakult or Vitagen (I happen to love drinking the latter 2 as a kid, nevermind the sweetness. It was such a treat!)
The purpose behind probiotics is to introduce more good bacteria to balance out the bad bacteria in your gut. It is being touted as a new health thing and like all health things, there will naturally be pros and cons. If you look out there though, the pros outweigh the cons of taking probiotics by about a million to one. Probiotics is even said to be able to help people who have skin problems, allergies or acne.
Well, guess who discovered a small side effect of taking probiotics that isn’t quite as inspiring as all that? 😛
Yours truly actually had acne after taking probiotics. Yep. It defies imagination doesn’t it? Here is this capsule of all these supposedly good bacteria that’s supposed to help with digestive problems, clear up internal plumbing and maybe even help with clearing up acne on skin.
What I experienced was otherwise. I was having some spots. This was during the time before I decided to do anything to my diet. It was highly irritating. I was then suggested to try some probiotics. Everyone in my family was taking it and everyone was raving about how regular it made them. That was the primary reason for taking the probiotics I might add.
So I started taking it once a day. After about a week, I started to realize that my skin, which was bad before, was now stark raving NUTS! I was having huge, painful cystic acne on my chin and honestly, after not having such bad skin for such a long time, it was a downer. It wasn’t hormones, I might add. It wasn’t close to that time of the month when hormones go nuts, and I haven’t had hormonal acne for a while now.
I don’t know what made me think about the probiotics I was taking. One morning, I woke up and thought “I wonder if its the probiotics?” Perhaps it was some instinct so I stopped it. Within 2 weeks, I started to notice a difference to my skin. Coupled with my lifestyle and diet change, I found my skin was healing itself, with no lasting damage. Was it the probiotics then? Could it actually cause me to have acne?
I looked for information online but there was little to no information. Most people said it HELPED their acne problem. It was on a few little known forums where I found one or two people who mentioned the same things I experienced. Within a couple of days of taking probiotics, they erupted with acne along the chin and jaw line. After stopping, the breakouts stopped. Most people shot that theory down and told them to stick it out but I personally felt there was something there. I wasn’t going to stick it out, no matter what anyone said.
I’d gotten my problem under control by this time. Barring the regular random blackheads my skin was back to normal. So, I decided to experiment. I popped a probiotic capsule just last week in the morning. By evening, there was a painful hard spot forming on my chin. By the next morning, it was a full blown painful cystic acne spot. I wasn’t waiting around to see what happened if I popped another capsule!
So, going from my personal experience with probiotics, I’m going to stick my head out and say that yes, in some very rare cases (like mine) probiotics can cause you more harm to your skin than good. Probiotics can, in my case, cause you to break out and have acne problems where you had none before, or even make your problem worse.
I’ve stopped taking probiotics and am now treating the spot with the Nexcare patch which is helping to bring down the swelling and reduce the painful spot. Once it flattens out or comes to a head, I’ll go with tea tree oil and then perhaps a whitening spot corrector to get rid of the mark and hydration to get my skin back to normal.
Its a horrible process and if you ask me, I think this an awful way to discover that probiotics isn’t for me. I might add that it could also be the strain of bacteria used in this particular brand (it all looks like the normal stuff in most probiotics supplements though). Not being medically or pharmaceutically trained, I can’t tell. The only thing I will say is that I’m quite safely NOT going near anymore probiotic supplements from now on.
If anyone has shared a similar experience as I have, I hope you could share it. Perhaps you had a good experience with taking probiotics. Share it too! 🙂
Paris B
Sara says
Thank god I found this site. Worst pain, worst cystic acne along with blister type spots. I started taking probiotics two weeks ago because my friend who is a nurse recommended them to me for fabulous brighter skin, and vitamin absorption amongst other things. IMMIDIATLY my skin went from a zit here or there around my period to hell on earth! I stopped taking them for two days and my skin brightened up, acne and cysts went down quickly. Then my friend told me to push through it and keep taking them. SO I decided to take 2 last night. I woke up this morning with like 8 new spots. I went shopping all day, just got home and my face literally has over 30 cysts and ance of all sorts. I want to cry!! I thought right then omg it is the probiotic. How can I push through this. I look like some kind of drug addicted with scaring and acne and dry spots covering my face. Especially my forehead!! So I typed in probiotics causing acne and this site popped up. Thank you Jesus!!! Thank you for writing this blog…truly life saving.
Bridget says
Every single time I ingest either yogurt or probiotics – that is how I found this blog – I get painful cysts (mainly on my face, but pretty much anywhere random). Milk and cheese doesn’t seem to have the same effect, just yogurt or the pro-biotic supplements. If I don’t ingest those, my skin is clear and pretty calm. I am thinking of giving up dairy all together.
weeza says
I had the same experience – terrible cystic acne all around my neck and jawline from drinking milk kefir. I only realised that was the cause about 2 months after I started to drink the milk kefir every day (the acne increased gradually, as I increased the amount of kefir I drank). I stopped taking the kefir immediately. That was 3 months ago. The acne on my neck went away in days, but my skin is now ultra sensitive and breaks out (in different places) most days. Luckily it’s nothing like the ginormous welts I had on my neck, but still unpleasant to deal with. (I’m 43). It’s like the kefir triggered a new acne response. I’ve cut out all dairy and gluten and I only use natural things like honey or jojoba oil on my face and I’ve started to see an improvement. (Although every time I do something new the acne gets worse before getting better, so maybe it’s true with probiotics too – but there’s no way I’m trying it again to find out). I’m hoping my skin will gradually get better.
I’m sad I can’t take probiotics because I felt AMAZING when I was drinking kefir every day – great digestion, tons of energy, happy, euphoric even. Soon after I stopped the kefir I experimented again, this time just with using apple cider vinegar on my salad at dinner time. Sure enough, the next day the neck welts were back! So I know I have an intolerance to probiotics and they cause me severe acne. But when my skin is all better I will try taking sauerkraut or pickles to see if that’s any better. I want that great digestion and energy/euphoria back!!!
Breanne says
After taking probiotics every day for the past month and a half, my chin has gone crazy with huge cystic pimples for the past couple of weeks!! I’m so glad I found this because I honestly had no idea what was happening… I would always have a couple on my face, usually my chin area, but nothing like this! I’ve tried different medications from my doctor and nothing has been working so now I’m getting laser skin care done to hopefully make this go away.
Starting today, I am no longer taking probiotics and will hopefully have clear skin again soon rather than 20 pimples all over my chin. It’s seriously been one of the most frustrating things to deal with at 29! I feel like I’m a teenager all over again and it’s pretty scary that it can happen so suddenly… awful experience.
Breanne says
It’s weird that a lot of us have broken out like crazy on the chin area after probiotics… I wonder why that is? Does anyone know? I’m glad it’s only my chin, but it’s weird that the rest of my face is clear as can be.
Judy says
Been taking probiotics since my 30’s for IBS which changed my life and had beautiful skin for 32 years while on an oral contraceptive. Stopped the pill at menopause. Started eating more yogurt & drinking kefir and developed large, painful, scaley cystic welts on my scalp at the back of my neck. Thought it was eczema or psoriasis. Dermatologist prescribed an anti-fungal shampoo which seemed to help. Recently tried Kombucha and the welts have multiplied. Going to take a break from all probiotics and see if they clear up. I think they did the last time I ran out of kefir. There definitely seems to be a correlation. Thanks for sharing your experiences which have confirmed my suspicion.
Tara says
Yes this made me have the worst Cystic Acne. I couldn’t figure out what was wrong till I finally thought about when it started and put it together. I still get a few Cystic Acne now cause of it but not like before. My whole face was covered in it. ???
Esther says
I know this sounds insane but since I first started about a year ago, I started having a creepy crawling sensation all over my body. Was probiotics the cause? I read elsewhere that demodex mites can cause severe acne. I’ve collected skin specimens and it seemed to show a proliferation of tiny mites (like demodex ) around 0.1-0.2mm all over my body and the activity goes in a cycle almost like a 12 hour cycle especially more active when at rest. I would rub tea tree oil and occasionally one or two would fall out. Was the probiotics feeding the demodex mites?
Luna says
I discovered Kombucha Tea and have became obsessed with it. I was drinking a bottle or two a day and priding myself on the fact that I was drinking something so healthy and full of probiotics. I started to get really bad cystic acne on my chin and seeing as how I don’t eat dairy, or sugar, the only thing that had changed in my diet was the Kombucha. I quit drinking it, and within a week all my cystic acne had cleared up. Apparently probiotics are a trigger. Who knew?!?!?
alessandro says
For those of you who are breaking out while taking probiotics it’s likely because you have a dairy intolerance or sensitivity. Please introduce probiotics but make sure it’s from a non-dairy source. Thus you get the healthy flora required for healthy skin and avoiding the dairy. You can obtain probiotics through coconut and almond cultured yogurts these days.
Typical capsule form pills that are readily prescribed by naturopaths DO cause breakouts and I’ve experienced it personally. Since making the switch my stomach and my skin are both much happier.
TC says
I purchased a dairy free, top of the line probiotic and still brokeout. I had no idea a probiotic would break me out but I was very careful to buy one that was dairy free. 2 days after starting it I had the worst break out I ever have had since I was a teen. I’m now in my late 40’s. ?
Mia says
I am an adult. I took half a probiotic pill for kids (1.0 billion CFU), which is way less concentrated than an adults dosage. 2 hours later my face was itchy, with a red rash. The probiotic is vegan, free from dairy & gluten.
Shelly P says
My face is a mess! I started probiotics less than a week ago, but within 24 hours I started getting cystic acne at the age of 40!!! I started looking for info to see if probiotics could potentially be the cause! Glad I found this thread!
Steph says
I’m grateful to have found and read this blog and the ensuing comments. It’s helped.
I started taking a probiotic and having yoghurt about two weeks ago after doing a detox to help restore digestive health. Since then I’ve been plagued by, thankfully only small, slow to heal pimples on one cheek and my chin that come up one after the other. Today alone I’ve got several more and even though they’re small, they are lumpy and hurt.
The probiotic has helped the regularity to some extent, but not enough to entice me to wait and see. Certainly wouldn’t want them to worsen. Let’s see what happens then 🙂
L Miller says
Yes, I think both Kombucha and probiotics are making my skin break out. I’m currently experimenting to see if I reduce or eliminate both, if my skin improves. I’ve never had skin issues until the last 18 months or so, which happens to correspond with the timeframe I’ve been making and drinking kombucha. I added a probiotic about a year ago. I thought it was perimenopausal hormones, but I’m not so sure anymore.
Sherry says
I’m going through the same problem right now after taking a highly rated women’s multivitamin with probiotics. I have painful acne on my jaw line. I decided to stop taking it for 2 days and most of the acne dried up. Took it last night and woke up with 2 breakouts on my jaw line. So I’ll have to stop taking it. This is my third negative experience with probiotics over the years. I stop taking it and try it again after a year or more but unfortunately have the same negative results.
kdk says
I am 51 years old and haven’t had more than one random blemish in years. I started a ketogenic diet in January and my skin was the clearest ever, I’ve lost 30+ lbs, feel great..etc…but the constipation has been bothersome. I decided to add probiotics. ..lo and behold I start getting a starting amount of cystic acne. I had blamed it on my cleanser , moisturizer, and my new eating habitsit just seemed strange that it waited 3 months to manifest. Then I remembered my new probiotic routine and googled it. I’m so happy I did…I’m going to stop them immediately. ..fingers crossed
brandi martin says
Yes, I have had exactly the same thing happen to me! Two cyst-like things on my chin and now one of my forehead 🙁
Blaire says
Did stopping your probiotics help? I have very clear skin usually with little to no breakouts….I started taking Gundry MD as I have terrible digestive issues and hopes the Probiotics would help. I’m 3 weeks in and have tiny painful bumps that almost look like a rash all over my cheeks and bridge of my nose. These are places I never ever get acne. My stomach has felt amazing but the skin side affects are horrible to look at and painful. I am going to stop the Probiotics and see if that helps.
Christine says
I too, had the same experience. I was on a probiotic from Costco for about three months. The entire time I was on it, my face was horrible….cystic acne mainly on my chin area. It was constant, once one got semi healed, the next morning another one was forming. Painful and pretty much impossible to cover up with makeup because the raised bump was so large. I did some googling to see if anyone else had the same reaction and there’s not much out there, in fact a lot of people saying that it helped their acne. I ran into this article and it was my exact experience. I stopped the probiotic three days ago and literally I cannot stop looking in the mirror because I’m so shocked my skin looks this good. It’s glowing and I have no new pimples forming, in fact the ones I had are almost completely healed. I was a firm believer in probiotics but I’ll be very reluctant (unless I’m on antibiotics) to try them again.
JD says
I ordered some probiotics and started taking them. I noticed my skin breaking out within a day or two. I took them for about three days. I had hive type symptons and lots of breakouts. It was almost like all my skin problems were coming back to haunt me at the same time. However it was having a very positive effect on my digestive system.
It was really embarrassing as I was visiting my family at the time. I stopped taking them and my skin got better almost immediately. I think though I have some lingering effects from it though. I am afraid to take them again.