I’ve had 2 cycles of inexplicable breakouts in the past few months that stunned me primarily because I had gotten my skin to a level where I was very happy with how it looked, and it had been relatively breakout free for a while. I also was not trialing any new products, relatively speaking and hormones had been ruled out. So suddenly experiencing crazy bouts of acne on the lower half of my face that would not subside despite all ministrations, was bugging me. I’d changed my skincare, started using anti-acne skincare, changed my sheets, gone for facials to no avail.
Naturally, when you get stressed, things get worse. So one day, I sat back and thought about things. Perhaps it was not product related. Perhaps it was internal. The weather had been very hot, perhaps I had not been drinking sufficient water to flush out toxins. Perhaps I had not been eating enough fruits and vegetables. Perhaps it was constipation and a digestive problem. So I took stock of the situation and did a bit of a lifestyle change.
Surprisingly, it helped!
What prompted this thought was when I decided to look up possible causes of acne around the chin, mouth and jawline area. It turned up information on various websites that said it might be either hormonal or linked to the digestive tract. Poor digestion might result in chin and jaw acne, as well as possibly constipation.
I latched onto that thought, because I was having a bit of a problem there. Also, eating out a lot means not eating enough fruits and vegetables so I wasn’t getting a lot of fibre. To solve this problem, I started eating out less, and when I did, made sure that I had a healthy amount of vegetables included in every meal. I also made sure my house was stocked with fruits.
I’d go to the local market once a week and stock up on both fruits and vegetables, where they are cheaper and fresher than buying in the supermarkets. I’d make sure to eat them too. I also made sure I had enough water throughout the day. More than the regulation 8 glasses because the weather here has been baking hot.
Another thing I did was to cut out dairy almost totally from my diet, as well as go on a low gluten diet. I realised that dairy products gave me digestive problems which led me to believe that in my dotage, I’ve developed lactose intolerancy. No more cheesecake, cheesy pizza and ice-cream! 😛 I also cut back on foods like breads and cakes and started a diet of breakfast oats in the morning.
The results were two-fold. Firstly, I became more regular (whew!) and secondly, I started seeing benefits for my skin. It took a little while for the acne spots to go away, but new ones stopped sprouting. Over the course of about 2 weeks, my chin and jawline area cleared up from the worst of the breakouts. Going on a purely hydrating skincare regiment helped clear up the rest and deal with the marks.
This little experience taught me that while sometimes, I might break out from using a new product, not every breakout may be caused by topical contact. Sometimes, it is a sign that something is wrong internally and that you should check your internal plumbing for blockages. Sometimes, it might be certain foods that cause you problems or a health problem.
If you are suffering from breakouts along your jawline or chin area, do consider if you have been having digestive problems, slow digestion or poor digestion or constipation. A small lifestyle change may help more than all the topical acne creams or antibiotics in the world 🙂
Have you thought about this before? Have you had a similar experience as I did, and did a lifestyle change help you clear up your acne and breakouts?
Paris B
sigh, this is a great idea. unfortunately, i usually break out on my cheeks. not forehead, never chin, no more jawline, no nose. and the funny thing is, its only my right cheek, only. but i agree its a great thing to do, eat lots of fruits and drink lots of water, i am going to try that! plus, alot of ppl i know do break out from lactose. but i cannot live without my cheese. and chocolate.
having same prob here – acne on R cheek. I normally got acne on the chin (hormone) or eye brows (stress), never on the cheek. But for the past 2 mths, 1 acne popped out b4 my period, and b4 the mark went down, another one came to join the party this month. Am having mixed feelings : 1)kinda happy coz my period was never ever on-time, and 2) frust lo, coz nobody likes acne on their face ma… right ?
Hey, that could be caused by many things but the first thing that comes to my mind: When you talk on the phone, is it on the right side? Could be that you need to clean your phone.
Hmm.. if its just your right cheek, could it be through contact? Phone, pillow case, resting your hands on your cheeks… a variety of reasons. Oh and of course, diet may play a part too 😉
I washed my pillow cases with Dettol! It helps to reduce cheeks outbreaks!
I don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables too. Will definitely eat more to see if it cleans rest of my acne.
I hope it will work for you! I guess it helps that I enjoy eating my fruits and veges too 🙂
me too! but if my forehead got breakout, it is sign that i dun sleep well…so i will grab my beauty sleep before 12am. if it break at others part of my face mean i need more h2o then:)
Its great that you know what causes your breakouts, Patty 🙂 At least you’ll know how to get rid of the problem and yes, sleeping early is always beneficial not only for beauty but for health too!
i shared the similar problem Paris, I think the main contributor to my acne problem is from my chocolate addiction, but I can’t help it, chocolate make me feel gooooooood, hehe =P BTW, i bought the shiseido perfect foundation brush that you recommended in ur blog b4, I love it so muchhhhhhhhhh, thankq for the great review and comparison =)
Yay!! So happy that you like the brush too 😀 It makes applying foundation a breeze right? As for myself, I’m a strange breed. I am not into chocolate! I know right? So random LOL!
I’ve been experiencing dry, ezcema like patches on both my cheeks. Worse still it leaves dark patches on my cheeks. I’ve been doing mask constantly, eat well – have homecooked food at my mom’s from Mondays to Fridays, lots of fruits and vegetables, drink lots of water….. I’m at my wit’s end, don’t know what to do next.
Any suggestions ??? Please help !!!!
Did you try Evening Primrose Oil? It sorta works though.
Sorry but this is totally out of the acne topic but I once consumed Evening Primrose Oil for about 2 huge bottles (maybe 2 months) coz I read somewhere that it somehow will get rid of PMS cramps but to no avail.
Instead, my scalp + facial skin excretes 2x the oiliness that I usually get! To the fact that I had to wash my hair twice a day!!
Gosh, I’m not sure what that could be Mei Ping. Have you tried seeing a dermatologist? Sometimes it could be eczema or an allergy – we never know just what might trigger it. I hope you find the cause and solution soon!
i personally try to do a detox once a fortnight…to flush everything out. 🙂
That’s a good tip – what’s your detox regiment like?
i take those detox tea for like once a week….and do a major one of only fruits every few mths for couple of days 🙂
Omg!! I was facing the same prob!! I moved so Singapore recently so I’ve been eating out everyday and I’m breaking out like crazy these few weeks (which I have not been experiencing for quite a while now).. Sobs. Will take your advice and eat less fast food, more veggies. 🙁
I hope this will help you! I know just how frustrating it can be to keep breaking out and not find a solution. Sometimes, products can’t help at all! It could also be sweat, pollution or heat (Its been very hot lately) but food definitely plays a part. Do try cutting back on oily fast food, and eat more fruits and veggies.
Personally I eat lots of fruits and veggies too (but at the same time, I love my meats and cheeses as well – Strangely, I HATE milk as though it was my murderer in my past life)! ^.^
As a result, the bowels are heh heh, quite regular. As for breakouts, well, I get the odd pimple here and there every once in a while. Lots of water (with lots of ice) for me works too!
Good for you Hanny! I have read that too much cold water/drinks isn’t good for the body but how can we resist in this terribly hot weather eh? 🙂
I always tend to breakout on my chin, jawline and eyebrow area. I’m not sure if it’s due to digestive problems (i’m pretty regular) but I suspect it has a lot to do with stress…and foods that are high in saturated fats. I eat relatively healthy but i know for sure I could uptake more fruits. I do think the main culprit is stress though. I’m very happy for you that you’re all better 🙂 I hope your skin stays healthy w/no more breakouts 🙂
Thank you! I’m hoping the same – suddenly having a breakout for no reason was so traumatizing LOL! As for stress being a factor, I found that stress would break me out on other parts of the face – forehead mostly. Maybe its all that brainwork hehe… But I do think overall, a nice healthy diet will definitely help on an overall basis.
i have tried so many methods (including eating at least 5 servings of fruits and vege a day), plus the fresh fruit-vege juice every morning and tonnes of water, but none helped. i started fish oil 2 weeks back and now praying that it will help! and who knows your magic water might save my life 😉
I’ve been taking fish oil recently too! Not sure if its helping my skin but well, so long as it does not do any harm, why not eh? I hope the magic water saves you too!
I do agree with you and good to see something like this in a beauty blog! Also to consider that acne just above the eyebrows could mean your liver is not working well which is also diet related. I read that gluten-sensitive folks could be overworking their livers if consuming too much baked goods, pasta etc. I feel that if I do not eat enough veggies and fruit, I would also break out easily. And dairy is def a culprit…But it’s so hard to say no to cheese and pasta and bread…! I try to eat them only once or twice a week. Glad to know you were able to get rid of your bout of acne – well done!
Thank you! Beauty is after all inside out too right? 😀 Thanks for the tips re: liver. I am sort of glad that I don’t have any acne there *whew* 😉 As for dairy, I think its just as well I took it out of my diet. I’ve heard of it causing problems for some people, but personally, its mostly because I feel so uncomfortable after eating dairy laced foods that I’d just rather not eat them at all! So I have pizza, but without cheese LOL My family thought me weird, but I enjoyed it just as much so I’m not fussed 😀
Yay for figuring out the cause! A healthy body means healthy skin too. Though sometimes, it might be hormonal. I think my skin also looks better because I’ve been exercising 🙂
Exercise is great too and definitely aids skin to look better – plus it feels nice too right? 😀 I did consider hormones but it didn’t tie in. But generally yeah, hormones will definitely contribute to chin acne.
Ah breakouts! I have them prior to monthly period or if I’m stressed and tired! You’re right, it could be the quality of food that I eat too!
I used to get monthly spots too thanks to those darned hormones! But I haven’t had them for a while hence the sudden panic LOL!
Mine is related to my menses and my general immunity. Whenever I get sick, pimples will sprout no mater how I keep it clean and moisture… And during a week before the day of the month, small ones will pop and say hi… I also notice general dullness near menses…
Any advice Paris?
You know what’s funny, Gin, whenever I fall sick, I actually end up with really nice skin. So weird right?! Especially when I have a fever. Its like it burns away the bacteria LOL!! But yes, monthly hormones definitely contribute to skin problems. I guess I”m lucky in that I haven’t had those for a while. I found that when I was taking evening primrose oil for a while, it helped. I didn’t get cramps and no hormonal acne either. Have you tried that?
i have severe menstrual cramps and i tried evening primroses but it didnt help… now it is time to experiment it for my skin!!!
Thanks Paris!
and i SO envy you for getting perfect skin even when u are sick… haiz……
i heard that probiotics really help with acne so i started eating it daily and i did see visible improvements. so i guess diet ties in with that too 🙂 healthy bacteria in the gut + more vitamins/minerals to absorb
Glad to know that Probiotics helped you YL! I did read a lot about it too, and tried taking it but as I will be sharing next week, it actually caused and contributed to my acne problem. So I’m not going anywhere near probiotics anymore 😛
No pizza, ice cream and bread? No!!! 🙁
Maybe you could try psyllium husks too? My brother takes it everyday and he can’t rave enough about it. He swears by it. I’m thinking of taking them too. 🙂
Haha… actually, I don’t miss all those. I have pizza without cheese and I eat bread sometimes. I take maybe a spoonful of ice cream and that’s enough for me. I was never one for desserts and dairy foods so I really don’t miss anything. It beats feeling uncomfortable after eating it at any rate! 😀 I tried taking psyllium husks once a few years ago. Made me puke every single time 😛
Yes, the area of breakout shows what it’s related to. =) Hmmm, but I hurt that breakout at the temples is more due to indigestion. And strangely, breakout on the forehead is due to stress! haha, quite logical.
Yes! I did notice that during high stress periods, my forehead would break out. Quite logically I thought, with all that mental work going on LOL!
This is very much in tune with my recent post. I tried a healthy diet last year to cure my sudden and very bad acne breakout and the diet shift definitely paid off. It was a drastic improvement.
But I guess I got complacent and lazy so for the last 2 months, I went back to my old unhealthy, meaty, sugary, creamy and whatnot-y diet and suddenly started having pimples and uneven skin tone again, not to mention, I had two rounds of flu in 2 months!
Glad to know a similar lifestyle shift helped you too Vivi. I too find that when I fall off the bandwagon, my skin does tend to suffer a little but since I also realized that a lot of foods I decided to cut out of my diet also made me feel uncomfortable after eating, it wasn’t too hard to then just stop eating them so I wouldn’t suffer 😀 But its hard, I will agree if you also enjoy eating the same foods that can wreak havoc on your skin 🙂 Hope you’re feeling better!
i have been battling adult acne for the past 1 year and most of them popped up on my cheeks. now the acne on the cheeks have cleared and now their new location is the chin area. i believe drinking water and green tea helps to clear the spots. now i am quite happy with the condition of my skin, just gotta tackle the marks it left behind! will hydration help with the marks?
Its great to know that you have gotten rid of the worst of the problem! 😀 I did read that it wasn’t too good to drink too much green tea health wise, but I guess it varies from individual to individual 🙂 As for the post acne marks, I usually use a spot corrector, exfoliation as well as going with a hydrating skincare regiment. It definitely helps me! 🙂
I believe that if your diet and lifestyle is not healthy, what you put on yourself externally can only go so far. I also need to watch my sugar intake, oil and salt, I think the extra sodium is making my hair fall 😛
Oh yes! I get extra hair fall when I eat out a lot too. There’s just so much salt in outside food! So yes I will agree that we are only as good outside as we are on the inside yes? 😉