Dr. Nicole Sundene
Author of "The Hormonal Acne Diet"
Hormonal Acne was bothering me so much in this picture from the 90’s I refused to smile for my mom on the latest acne post on my Holistic Dermatolgoy Facebook page. My mom was frustrated because I should have been happy and smiling for photos while making gingerbread houses, but instead I wanted to cry if not scream about my painful, embarrassing, hormonal acne. At the time, I was horrified that my family would see how bad my acne had become when I returned home from college.
If I only knew then what I know now about Hormonal Acne ...
As a result of what I have learned about Hormonal Acne since the 90’s as a Naturopathic Doctor working in Holistic Dermatology for seventeen years, I have put this hormonal acne information together to help prevent acne from causing permanent scars and impacting other women’s mental health.
Let me walk you through my six step natural system of how I manage hormonal acne naturally as a Naturopathic Doctor so that women do not have to suffer in silent frustration with their hormonal acne. We will discuss hormones and nutrition and how they impact hormonal acne.
BUT FIRST….BACK TO THE 90’s…
What my mom did not understand while she was trying to take my picture, was that I was not mad at her, I was mad at my acne! You see, I had spent a DISTRAUGHT hour applying Grand Canyon like layers of concealer foundation and powder to cover my acne in her downstairs bathroom to no avail.
I was especially upset by the large red cystic acne bumps on my cheeks, chin and jaw that were so large and inflamed I could not cover them up. So technically my acne does not look horrible in the picture, but without makeup there was almost no healthy skin, and instead I had varying acne lesions healing and forming in different states covering my skin.
What you see in the picture my mom took are all the large cystic acne bumps that could not be covered by makeup. So I understand as a doctor that acne is not just a Dermatology condition but also a painful Psychological condition as teens and young adults are already stressed, anxious, depressed, and insecure enough without having acne!
DID YOU KNOW ACNE CAN CAUSE DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY?
As a women’s health doctor I want to share with you the simple natural steps I used to clear my own hormonal acne as well as countless patients' complexions over the past seventeen years I have worked as a Women’s Health and Hormone Naturopathic Doctor with a specialty and passion for Holistic Dermatology. I don’t want anyone to feel how I once did…anxious, sad, helpless, hopeless, and depressed.
WHY ARE YOU PASSIONATE ABOUT TREATING HORMONAL ACNE?
For eight years I worked in regular Dermatology for three MD’s, and trust me the docs I worked for were super smart, yet just as frustrated with my severe acne as I was. They tried every trick in the book. I knew their medicine generally worked because I saw their patients generally improve with acne, psoriasis, rosacea, hives, rashes, and eczema, yet my complexion was STUBBORN and continued to just get worse… No matter what we tried, my body rebelled.
FIRST LET’S REVIEW EVERYTHING I DID IN DERMATOLOGY THAT DID NOT WORK
First I tried the fruitless task of applying things to my skin to fix my skin. I applied differin gel, retinol combinations, clindamycin, benzoyl peroxide, salicylic acid, azelaic acid, every natural and herbal medicine remedy from the health food store I worked at, and countless topicals to no avail. If you learn nothing else from me, please learn that putting things on our skin does not heal our skin. The body is screaming at us through our skin that something “is not right” and the acne is the messenger for the body. We have to address the internal imbalance occurring with hormonal acne to achieve lasting results.
BIRTH CONTROL PILLS FOR HORMONAL ACNE?
Next we tried birth control pills that made my existing depression and anxiety SO BAD that I had to stop taking them for the safety of my mental health. My mood was suddenly dark, angry, and scary and I did not feel like myself on the birth control pills. My parents were scared of me and did not know who I had become. I was suddenly super angry and constantly yelling at them and combative. My mental health was far more important than my skin so the birth control pills of course had to go.
BIRTH CONTROL CAN CAUSE DEPRESSION, ANXIETY AND ANGER?
I share this birth control story because the mental health fall out can be horrendous for many women on synthetic hormones that suppress their natural hormones, even those without pre-existing mental health challenges.
I have seen plenty of women develop new health problems such as anxiety, depression, panic attacks, ADHD, hormonal rage, anger, brain fog, insomnia, nausea, headaches, weight gain, trouble concentrating, and OCD while on the pill. So this is not always the best way to treat acne especially in young teen girls that are not fully grown or developed nor mature and capable of dealing with the hormonal moodiness the pill can cause. It is not a good idea to shut your daughter’s natural hormone production down until she is at least 16-18 and/or done growing and developing.
ARE BIRTH CONTROL PILLS BAD FOR HORMONAL ACNE?
While some of my patients are fine on birth control, for some women it is absolute mental health poison and comes with a host of horrible side effects! Birth control pills are also not a good long term treatment for acne because suppressing female hormones with synthetic hormones causes Osteoporosis, and increases blood clots, heart attack, stroke and breast cancer risk as well.
Furthermore, birth control pills are not “fixing your period” or “fixing your hormones” as many doctor’s describe them. What they are actually doing is stopping your period and causing a mechanical “withdrawal bleed” that is not an actual period when taking those placebo pills that do not contain synthetic hormones. Synthetic hormones are not balancing natural hormones, they are blocking them.
DO ANTIBIOTICS HELP HORMONAL ACNE?
Next up for me to try were antibiotics. The doxycycline and minocycline seemed to clear my skin somewhat, but caused constant upset stomach from killing off all the good bacteria in my gut aka “probiotics” and I was dealing with constant stomach aches, constipation and bloating, heartburn, IBS, diarrhea, and more sudden weight gain. Now I was 30 pounds overweight between the pill and the antibiotics.
ARE ANTIBIOTICS GOOD FOR THE SKIN?
Taking antibiotics for several months caused me to develop eczema AND psoriasis. The antibiotics made the skin on the rest of my body really inflamed, my gut was a mess, so the antibiotics had to go too. Especially because they only cleared up my skin half of the way and not all of the way. Now I had multiple topicals for my acne and two different creams to apply to my eczema and psoriasis. My skin was an epic mess and suddenly had become a full time job to manage between all the different products! Does acne really need to be this complicated?
MY FINAL DERMATOLOGY TREATMENT FOR HORMONAL ACNE
Meanwhile in Dermatology land, the only medicine the Dermatologist had left to offer me was Accutane which can be harmful to the liver, harmful to female hormones, destructive to thyroid function, and cause depression and suicidal thoughts.
I was scared of doing harm to my liver, and was determined to find a natural solution to my hormonal acne after essentially “Flunking Out” of regular MD Dermatology.
The very place I worked at the time had failed me! Three of the best Dermatologists could not help me! I knew it was not my docs fault. They were fantastic doctors. The best of the best. There was just something peculiar about my form of acne, and we were not getting to the "Root Cause" of it.
HOW WILL I TREAT MY HORMONAL ACNE NOW?
In order to solve the hormonal acne puzzle, I needed to understand the connection between Hormones and Dermatology that was the missing puzzle piece at the time…and now I know in hindsight that Dermatologists are not Hormone Doctors and rarely run labs on patients.
They are not taught how to test hormones and hormones are simply too complicated for most doctors to test women in the correct phase of her cycle for hormonal acne. When I receive hormone lab reports from other doctors they are rarely comprehensive and never conducted in the right window to understand hormonal acne. Usually I receive two tests for a "hormone panel" from a woman’s OBgyn or Family Doctor when my first hormonal acne hormone panel is five pages long!
DERMATOLOGISTS ARE NOT TRAINED TO TEST AND TREAT HORMONE IMBALANCE
This is where Dermatology fails hormonal acne patients because they lack the training to test and interpret hormone labs. It's not the dermatologist's fault! They just are not trained to do this and hormones are super complicated, especially female hormones.
I continued to research treatments for hormonal acne while running low on hope. Finally I regained hope as I learned in Naturopathic school about Dermatology and Hormones!
THE HORMONAL ACNE LIGHT BULB GOES OFF!
The presentation the doctor put together that day about the interconnection between Dermatology, Hormones, Nutrition, Inflammation, and the Microbiome all clicked. I implemented my hormone balancing nutrition plan for acne and continued to do my own research for the best nutrition for hormonal acne.
I began tracking my period and realizing that the 7 days before my period started was when the acne would flare and peak to its absolute worst until I got my period.
Finally I was getting RESULTS and ANSWERS for my type of hormonal acne!
Stay tuned to the end for more information on how to track your period for free to determine if you have hormonal acne. I promise I will go over that in more detail later, as it is super important for every woman to know how to do it!
FINALLY RESULTS AND A RESTORATION OF HOPE AND SELF CONFIDENCE!
As I made nutrition and lifestyle changes, my hormonal acne suddenly began to feel less painful and inflamed. The larger cysts began to subside and in a month of these changes I was only dealing with “regular people acne” aka a few spots here and there and my entire face was not covered with acne. My skin was healing and healthy skin was finally returning to the surface!
Once again I was back to socializing and going to pool parties, swimming, dancing, yoga, pilates, hiking, mountain biking, and camping with friends!
I had stopped doing all of these things for fear people would see my large cystic acne bumps which certainly was not helping my skin, mood or weight!
After years of implementing these natural techniques for hormonal acne I want to share my simple 6 step system:
MY HORMONAL ACNE DIET PROGRAM SOLUTION
Since there are so many different moving parts and pieces to controlling hormonal acne naturally, I have put everything together into a simple Holistic Dermatology Mind/Body/Spirit program of recipes, meal plans, and exercises to help regain that clear confident complexion you deserve.
My nutritionist has made time saving easy meal prep recipes with handy grocery shopping lists that actually teach you how to meal prep and make multiple portions of your healthy Hormonal Acne Diet recipes. There is also an easy cheat sheet guide Hormonal Acne guide foods to eat and foods to avoid.
You can get everything you need to improve your skin right here: Hormonal Acne Diet
Worst case scenario you learn some new healthy recipes, learn to manage stress, and get fit!
Best case scenario your skin clears up beautifully like I see in my Holistic Dermatology practice all the time...which is why I want women everywhere to know all about this….AND you learn to manage stress, prevent disease...and get fit!
Simply visit my Hormonal Acne Diet program to get your Holistic Dermatology Mind/Body/Spirit program to achieve that confident clear complexion you deserve!
That next pool party invitation is right around the corner…so let’s get started now!
I promise you can thank me later when you are feeling fit and confident in your bathing suit without relying on any makeup!
Join Me Here: Hormonal Acne Diet Program
Dr. Nicole Sundene
(480) 837-0900
P.S. CAN YOU HELP ME WITH MY HORMONAL ACNE IF I AM NOT IN ARIZONA?
The #1 question my assistant gets from women is "can I help them with their hormonal acne testing if they are not in Arizona." Yes! If you need my help testing hormones for hormonal acne, simply visit my SCHEDULE page to treat yourself to a Naturopathic visit. Hormone testing can be conducted via telemedicine for women in all 50 states.
We are contracted with Labcorp and Sonora Quest so check in your Google maps, because as long as you have one of those labs near you, I can help you! The hormone labs are covered per the patient's insurance plan. Should you need prescription drugs which rarely occur with my patients, I can recommend the hormones, or prescription for your local Obgyn or Dermatologist to prescribe. Most out of state doctors find it a relief to work with me when they have not been able to resolve their patients' acne.
P.S.S.
HOW DO I KNOW IF I HAVE HORMONAL ACNE?
One of the most common acne questions I am asked as a Hormone Doctor that specializes in Holistic Dermatology, is how to know if acne is hormonal. Aside from testing hormones as I recommend to do, a simple free way to know if your acne is hormonal is to download a period tracker app to your phone and begin to track your acne breakouts along with your period. I like the free one with the pink flower. If your skin is breaking out between days 21-28 of your cycle with day 1 being the first day that you bleed then you most likely have hormonal acne. Or if your acne is worse while on your period then we know your skin is not happy from the hormone changes and is hormonally sensitive.
Generally what is happening with your acne and your menstrual cycle, is that around day 14 you ovulate hormones that are generally in balance with each other until the progesterone burns off faster than the estrogen and you are left with “Estrogen Dominance.” Progesterone is calming to the skin and gives it that pretty glow and goes low causing women to feel like they look worse before they bleed. Testosterone and DHEA also can remain high at this time and the lack of progesterone to balance them out is what causes skin to become more oily and more prone to have bacteria adhere to the pores and thus cause acne.
This is exactly why you need to pick up your Hormonal Acne Diet program ASAP!
P.S.S.S
WHAT IS THE BEST TREATMENT FOR HORMONAL ACNE?
Nutritional changes are what the body is calling for when it sends acne to your face. Without changing nutrition topical and medications are totally useless for hormonal acne in my opinion after trying many different methods over seventeen years in my Holistic Dermatology practice.
Nutrition is ultimately what the root of the problem is for most women with hormonal acne. By increasing foods that help to balance estrogen, progesterone, insulin, DHEA, and testosterone and avoiding the foods that trigger the imbalance we can control hormonal acne nutritionally!
If you have not already enrolled in my Hormonal Acne Diet program to improve your skin on a Mind/Body/Spirit level then JOIN ME HERE and let’s get started working towards that confident clear complexion you deserve!
Dr. Sundene is a Naturopathic Doctor in Scottsdale, Arizona, and is considered a Female Hormone Expert in Women's Health and Bioidentical Hormones. She specializes in Holistic Women's Health for Menopause, Thyroid, Hashimotos, PMS, Perimenopause, Autoimmune, Postpartum, Chronic Fatigue, Depression, Anxiety, Food Allergies, Digestion, Dermatology , Acne, Psoriasis, Eczema and Adrenal Hormonal Conditions. In 1999 she began working for a Hormone Doctor prior to starting Naturopathic Medical School. With over 22 years of experience in both Prescription and Natural women's health and hormones she presents to women the best integrated health solutions for their Chronic Disease. She has been an Herbalist for over 27 years and enjoys teaching women how to use herbs to balance their hormones, nutrition and optimize their health. Dr. Sundene relies on blood testing for her hormone metrics. The hormone testing is covered per the patient's insurance plan and conducted at certain points in the woman's menstrual cycle. To learn more about Hormone Testing for Women Visit: Bioidentical Hormones. Follow Dr. Sundene on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook for more tips on Women's Health, Female Hormones and Naturopathy!
