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Acne Breakouts On My Face And Back.

Dman

By Dman
in Related Issues & Disorders

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Dman Newbie
Dman
Posted

I'm a 31-year-old male and was diagnosed with celiac disease the first week of January this year. Since then I have followed a strict gluten-free diet. After about a month of being on this diet, I noticed I'd get an occasional pimple on my back or shoulders. Then I'd have two or three. For the last month I've just been getting new pimples on my face and back on almost a daily or every other day basis. I've NEVER had an acne problem in my life. Of course I'd get the occasional pimple, but it was nothing like I have now. I guess I've been one of the lucky ones and just always had clean, clear skin, but what I'm going through now is really bothering me.

Has anyone else experienced this? How do you treat it? I'm reluctant to assume that this is all a coincidence because my lifestyle has not changed. I still swim regularly at the gym. My soaps and laundry detergent has not changed. Only my diet has changed and it was a drastic change because breads were part of my daily diet up until I was diagnosed.

If anyone can offer some advise, I'd sincerely appreciate it.

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Mango04 Enthusiast
Mango04
Posted

Wow that's interesting. My first thought was maybe your body is detoxing. But I wonder....what have you added to your diet in place of all the bread? Have you added large amounts of any replacement foods? Do any of your replacement foods happen to contain soy...or any other ingredient that is new to you?

alamaz Collaborator
alamaz
Posted

Are you eating soy? Soy makes me break out really bad. I can tolerate small amount of soy lecithin spaced out but any soy product causes me to have bad breakouts. You have to look for soy in vitamins, flours, margarines, candy bars and the obvious soy milk, tofu etc. I'd try eliminating soy first for about a month and see how it goes.

Dman Newbie
Dman
Posted
  • Author

I am consuming more soy products now, but soy is certainly not new to me (I work for a soybean roasting company)! I have replaced breads with corn and rice products such as corn bread, corn tortillas, rice cakes, rice flour, etc. I still consume the same amount of lean red meats each week (my favorite) and vegetables. I eat between one and three apples or other piece of fruit each day. I drink a lot of bottled water each day and perhaps five 32oz gatorades per week. In doing research online for acne treatment, I've seen several sites that make statements that a diet rich in fibers and whole grains is essential to healthy skin (or words to that affect) so it just makes me wonder if not getting all the grains that my body used to get may be causing this. I know it might not make sense, but I'm just stumped over this. This is what I should have gone through about 15 years ago!

Mango04 Enthusiast
Mango04
Posted
I am consuming more soy products now, but soy is certainly not new to me (I work for a soybean roasting company)! I have replaced breads with corn and rice products such as corn bread, corn tortillas, rice cakes, rice flour, etc. I still consume the same amount of lean red meats each week (my favorite) and vegetables. I eat between one and three apples or other piece of fruit each day. I drink a lot of bottled water each day and perhaps five 32oz gatorades per week. In doing research online for acne treatment, I've seen several sites that make statements that a diet rich in fibers and whole grains is essential to healthy skin (or words to that affect) so it just makes me wonder if not getting all the grains that my body used to get may be causing this. I know it might not make sense, but I'm just stumped over this. This is what I should have gone through about 15 years ago!

Well you can get plenty of fiber on a gluten-free diet, and it sounds like you are, so that shouldn't be a problem. I wonder if your body is reacting to the soy differently now that your diet has changed, especially if you're around soy all day. I'm not an expert (though I've dealt extensively with cystic acne)...but if it were me in this situation I would completely cut out the soy and the gatorade if you can...and try to eat less starch. If you've added significant amounts of corn to your diet that can certainly be having an impact as well. Here's some info that discusses grains, acne and insulin. I don't believe everything that Mercola says but some of it is good info:

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

Dman Newbie
Dman
Posted
  • Author

That's very helpful information. I'll put it to use. Thanks a bunch.

imsohungry Collaborator
imsohungry
Posted

Hi there!

Like you, I started getting acne past the "typical" puberty age of onset.

Two things were causing mine: Medication and hormones

Well, they fixed the hormone problem with birth control pills (obviously not an option for you) ;)

But earlier that year, I had also started taking a new Rx medication....we found that to be the root of the problem breakouts.

Just thought I'd offer that idea. Have you started any new meds. recently?

Best of luck. -Julie

P.S. I use Proactiv now; it IS gluten free, and they have body wash for troubling areas like the back, etc.

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ravenwoodglass Mentor
ravenwoodglass
Posted

One more thing, have you checked your shampoos and soaps for gluten?

munchkinette Collaborator
munchkinette
Posted
One more thing, have you checked your shampoos and soaps for gluten?

To add to this question, do you have a significant other who may have changed products? I break out really bad sometimes because of my SO. He had to check all his products for wheat. I make him brush his teeth every time he eats wheat if we're spending time together.

Anna Isabel Rookie
Anna Isabel
Posted

Hello!

The regimen described on this site really works for acne. It is quite amazing--I have always been prone to acne, and when I moved to New York I started to break out a lot(maybe because of all the dirt/pollutants?) and I found this website. Seems simple, but I really never break out anymore.

Open Original Shared Link

Annie

ant-hill Newbie
ant-hill
Posted

hey, I noticed you added more corn to your diet... that is a pretty common thing to have an allergy to, you may want to get tested for food allergies, or at least try dropping the corn from your diet for a couple weeks...

  • 3 weeks later...
Dman Newbie
Dman
Posted
  • Author

This is a follow-up to let everyone know that I stopped consuming soy and the breakouts have stopped. I don't know what it is about soy that caused it. Perhaps I was consuming too much. Typically I'd have chocolate soy milk mixed with soy protein isolate that I'd drink after swimming for a protein-rich shake.

Mango04 Enthusiast
Mango04
Posted
This is a follow-up to let everyone know that I stopped consuming soy and the breakouts have stopped. I don't know what it is about soy that caused it. Perhaps I was consuming too much. Typically I'd have chocolate soy milk mixed with soy protein isolate that I'd drink after swimming for a protein-rich shake.

Wow - I'm glad you figured it out.

Nancym Enthusiast
Nancym
Posted
Open Original Shared Link might might be of interest. Its about acne and dairy products.
alamaz Collaborator
alamaz
Posted

some people say that soy acts like the hormone estrogen (it's recommended to women to relieve symptoms of menopause) and also i've read that pretty much the entire soy crop in the US is genetically modified. Glad you were able to figure out what was causing your breakouts!

Nancym Enthusiast
Nancym
Posted

Do you use dairy products?

Open Original Shared Link

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