I don’t know about you, but it’s almost impossible for me to even imagine trying to jumpstart myself every morning without being able to grab a cup of coffee. This made me wonder, “Does Coffee Cause Acne?”.

And I’m not alone.

Coffee is easily one of the most popular beverages on the planet. In fact, hundreds of millions of people brew up a cup of coffee or grab one from their favorite café every single day.

Unfortunately, as tasty – and as effective – as coffee is, there are quite a few studies that show coffee has a close link to acne. And that’s bad news for anyone dealing with blemishes that aren’t exactly a morning person!

Want to learn how coffee is linked to acne, and how to avoid getting more acne without sacrificing your daily coffee? Pay close attention to the inside information below.

Does Coffee Cause Acne?

We’d love nothing more is and to give you a straight answer to the question “does coffee cause acne?”. However, the truth of the matter is that coffee is such a complex beverage that it’s impossible to really pin things down.

A lot of different studies (including some published in the American Journal of Medicine) report that coffee has more than 1000 individual chemical compounds in it. To give you a frame of reference chocolate has about 250 different chemical compounds while wine has around 450. This means there is a complex relationship from a large amount of chemicals in coffee!

And though many of these are powerful stimulants that boost your mood and your energy level significantly, a number of them are also antioxidants, chlorogenic acid compounds, and a host of other ingredients that can cause a variety of different biochemical reactions in the human body.

Some of these reactions are positive – coffee has been linked to weight loss results amongst other things – and some of them can be quite negative. We’ve all met someone that has the “coffee jitters”, not at all, unlike long-term alcoholics that shake when they haven’t had a couple of Joe in a while.

While it’s hard to give a definitive answer, our research has definitely led us to say that coffee does cause acne.

How Does Coffee Cause Acne?

There are plenty of research papers and articles that link stress to acne. To summarize: the more stressed out you are the more acne you are likely to have. So what does this have to do with coffee?

The primary way that coffee causes acne is simply by increasing the response your body has to both external and internal stressors.

Each and every one of us deals with a variety of different stressful situations on a day to day basis – it’s just part of normal life. Unfortunately, when we consume coffee – especially a couple of cups throughout the day – our ability to manage and mitigate stressful situations goes out the window.

Stress and pressure are magnified significantly (at least on a biochemical level), and the acne situation you were dealing with only gets worse and worse.

How Else Does Coffee Cause Acne?

Coffee is also going to work to impair your metabolism and make you insulin resistant – and that spells trouble for those dealing with blemishes.

Some studies suggest a reduction of 40% in the insulin sensitivity occurs after consuming 3 cups of coffee daily for a year affects your body’s ability to process sugar. If your body isn’t able to effectively process sugar, your skin is much more likely to experience significant acne outbreaks. This isn’t even mentioning other health problems that can occur from insulin resistance.

This is why you’re going to want to do absolutely everything you can to curb your coffee consumption if you have a lot of acne. You don’t have to cut it out completely, but keep it to one or 2 cups a day and you should be all right. Reducing your coffee intake on the weekends is a great place to start since you typically won’t need the pick-me-up.

At Home Solutions To Your Acne

The easiest way to get rid of your acne is through simple and affordable home remedies for acne. We suggest reading our articles about using tea tree oil to reduce acne and the best soaps to use for acne. Both of these articles give a great explanation of why you should use tea tree oil and effective soaps to reduce your acne so you can keep drinking your coffee!

Having acne on the neck or any other part of your body can be frustrating especially if you are already an adult. While it may not be as visible as jawline acne, it can be just as annoying to deal with.

While the skin condition is relatively common since almost everyone experiences an outbreak during their teens, this isn’t entirely a teen problem. Acne affects 26 percent of women in their 30s based on research done by the Journal of Women’s Health.

Popular to popular belief, the exact causes of this condition are unknown according to the National Institute of Health. However, you probably already know some factors that affect your acne breakouts which are widely supported by doctors.

Cause: Heredity

Your genes play a big role on how sensitive your skin is. It determines whether you’d have oily skin or dry skin among other things which in turn plays into whether you’d have acne or not. If your parents had mild to severe acne, it is very likely that you will get it too or already have it. Other hereditary medical conditions such as diabetes may also lead to neck acne since both acne and diabetes are related to how your body reacts to insulin.

Cause: Medication

Medications can treat certain conditions but some of them have negative effects on the skin and can cause acne on the neck too, according to experts. Doctors advise that you take a look at the medication you are taking and determine, with the help of your doctor, whether one of its side effects is having acne on the neck or other parts of your body. Common medications that can cause neck acne include certain types of birth control pills and Spironolactone.

Common birth control medications that may worsen acne on your body include Nuvaring, Femodene, Depo-Provera, Enpresse, and Plan B. If you believe birth control may be the cause of your acne then we recommend you check out Yasmin which is birth control that reportedly helps decrease acne!

Cause: Makeup

For many women, applying makeup is a daily activity. If your makeup is a little greasy, it may be time to switch to a different brand to avoid acne on the neck. If you are getting acne on the neck, your powder might be the culprit.

Acne On Neck: Is it more than acne?

What is acne on neck and how is it different from the ones that grow on your face?

If you are suffering from acne on neck long after your teen years, it is a good idea to pay your doctor a visit. According to experts, acne on the neck or along the jawline can be a symptom of an underlying ailment.

Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) is among these conditions that cause acne on neck and it is believed to be caused by insulin insensitivity. The condition lists acne as one of its symptoms.

Hormonal Acne Treatment

For many years now, doctors have prescribed birth control as a treatment for hormonal acne. Things have changed according to experts because there are no other treatments available.

Experts say that there is a need for you to use a gentle cleanser to get rid of dirt and oil. Cetaphil has been one of the major brands used for cleansing the skin and a good brand to alleviate acne on the neck.

Acne on Neck Moisturizer

If you are prone to getting acne on the neck and get dry skin, it is also a good idea to use a high-quality moisturizer.  Using an oil-free moisturizer like La Roche-Posay Effaclar Mat is highly recommended. While this effective moisturizer is only available in the U.S., it’s amazing ability to help reduce cystic acne and reduce the size of pores.

Acne on Neck and Diet

While cleansing and using the right products help in alleviating acne on the neck, it is also recommended for you to take care of your skin from the inside. Drink probiotics to help your body get rid of the skin condition. Probiotics can help your body ease inflammation and this includes easing inflammation on acne outbreaks.

Your diet is very important, according to doctors, but aside from probiotics, you can also eliminate dairy in your diet. Skimmed milk, for example, contains acne-producing hormones so there is a possibility that this is causing acne on neck.

If you can’t live without milk, try switching to almond milk instead. It is also suggested that you veer away from white rice, pasta, and bread to avoid acne on the neck.

It is also a good idea to ask your dermatologist what types of chemical peels are suitable for you. Typically, dermatologists suggest the use of alpha hydroxyl acid for those with acne.

Pregnancy and Acne

Aside from PCOS, pregnancy can also cause an acne outbreak. Hormonal changes occur during pregnancy. This can result in a number of things but can also affect the skin. Some pregnant women suffer from acne outbreaks while others don’t. If you belong to the former, go to a dermatologist immediately.

Acne And Stress

Sometimes, an acne breakout is caused by stress. While stress is good in terms of mankind’s survival, too much of it can be bad for your skin. To relieve stress, you would need to find an activity that will reduce this stress.

Getting a massage is a good example. You can also meditate and do yoga or just jog every morning or evening.

How Do You Treat Acne?

Acne treatment varies depending on what is causing it and there is no one-stop cure for everything. If you have extremely severe acne is advisable to go to a dermatologist immediately instead of treating it yourself.

Treatments stop more acne from occurring and will help treat existing acne which in turn can also prevent ugly scarring.

Generally, just be sure to consistently wash your face, avoid oily foods, and use several oil-free products like the ones we talked about. This is the most general, effective advice we can give, but again please keep in mind it doesn’t work in ALL cases.

Jawline acne is probably one of the more subtle, but more irritating forms of acne. While some would rather have jawline acne rather than acne on their forehead or cheeks, the placement of the jawbone added with acne can make for quite an uncomfortable experience.

Causes of Jawline Acne

Jawline acne can be itchy, and seemingly reoccurring, because of the close proximity of long hair, and hands for head resting.

While jawline acne can be annoying and can be attributed to external dirt, many women suffer from this type of acne for other reasons. Draw a straight line from the corners of your mouth to your ears. If you have acne anywhere lower than that imaginary line you just drew, your acne could be a result of hormonal imbalance.

Testosterone normally contributes to breakouts, so if you are experiencing a lot of acne in that specific area, and you don’t touch your face that much, see a doctor assess the cause of your specific case as you may require special treatment.

Types of Jawline Acne

The acne in this area can be cystic and “invisible,” meaning it lies under your skin, making it hard to see. Blackheads around this area may also be bigger, allowing for more dirt to clog the pores. While topical cream might not help alleviate the pain, applying creams with benzoyl peroxide 2.5%, twice a day on clean skin can help reduce the current acne, and future acne by breaking down the dead skin and keeping it out of your pores.

Witch-Hazel also works well to ease the incessant itching and irritation that comes with jawline acne. Applying this solution with a cotton ball to affected areas twice, sometimes 3 times a day helps keep skin clear of built-up oils, and keeps your skin fresh.

Conclusion

While jawline acne can hurt, the biggest and most over-used piece of advice is, DON’T TOUCH IT. Your hands are in constant contact with dirt, and millions of germs, so adding that to the mix of your already irritated face proves to be the worst thing an individual can do.

While it is tempting, prodding at the cyst-like acne can irritate it further under the skin and make your entire jawline flare-up.

The overwhelming majority of people out there are under the impression that acne scars are simply just acne scars. However, nothing could be further from the truth since there are many different types of acne scars.

Acne scars come in a lot of different shapes, sizes, configurations, and even colors – which is why they are so difficult for most people to categorize.

This is why you want to understand exactly which types of acne scars you’re dealing with at any one particular point in time. In fact, a majority of people typically deal at least 2 types of acne scars. Think this could be you? After reading thing article you should know enough to be able to identify some of the different types of acne of scars.

Let’s get right to it!

Types of Acne Scars: Depressed Acne Scars

If you’ve ever noticed acne scarring on someone (or yourself), the odds are good that you’ve noticed depressed acne scars or acne pitting.

Have a significant amount of acne scarring is of this variety, and most types of acne scars are going to cause at least some kind of depressions on your skin. This is the kind of acne scarring that you’re going to have to deal with when you fight through inflammatory acne, kind of acne that causes a world of breakouts across your skin every time it decides to rear its ugly head.

Of the depressed acne scars out there, there are actually three types of acne scars in a “subset”:

• Rolling scars – typically rather shallow but quite broad
• Boxcar scars – deep scars that look like canyons or craters are carved into your face
• Ice pick scars -very deep, but very narrow. Usually, have some kind of scar tissue at the bottom of the “pick”. These are difficult to be removed by laser surgery.

Rolling Acne Scars

Rolling acne scars are the most common type of depressed acne scars. If you were dealing with a significant amount of face acne for an extended period of time, the odds are good that you’re dealing with rolling acne scars.

These kinds of acne scars seem to stretch all over the face in a rolling pattern, looking like a spider web or a net of scars that cut in various directions. Most of these types of scars are only “surface deep” and shallow, which makes it easier to get rid of the use of laser technology.

The trouble here is that your skin is almost always going to lose a significant amount of elasticity, which makes the scars themselves look a lot more pronounced later in life. Laser resurfacing, IPL light technology and chemical peels have all been proven to be effective at getting rid of these types of scars.

Raised Acne Scars

Finally, you might be dealing with these types of scars if you had to deal with hypertrophic or keloid types of acne.

These types of scars are different from the previously mentioned types of scars in that they don’t actually depress the skin. Instead, as the name suggests, they raise the skin because of the buildup of fibrous and scar tissue that happens underneath the healthier layers.

Raised acne scars are not as common as depressed acne scars, but they are also some of the easiest to banish once and for all. You’ll want to move forward with a chemical peel, microdermabrasion, or laser ablation to get rid of these raised acne scars.

Your dermatologist is always going to be able to make the right recommendation to help you get rid of the types of acne scars you’re dealing with! If you’re unsure about laser removal then check out our posts “Everything You Need To Know About Laser Surgery For Acne” and “The Benefits And Drawbacks of Laser Resurfacing Acne Scars”.

Conclusion:

Acne scars are hard to get rid of. If laser surgery isn’t an option, then your best bet is some acne-fighting foundation.

“Do not eat that chocolate bar, you will get a pimple” or “Chocolate causes acne” may have circulated during your middle school years and now you either limit or avoid chocolate like the plague. But the ultimate question is, does chocolate cause acne?

Arguments that have been made for the, “Yes it does,” argument probably started around middle school, and is mostly geared toward women. However, there is a simple reason for that. 

The Misunderstanding

During middle school, everyone’s body goes through major physical changes, not to mention the rapid hormonal changes. Women during this time also begin their menstrual cycle, and with that comes a slew of cravings – chocolate being a popular choice which is where the misunderstanding comes from. 

During the menstrual cycle, there is an increased desire to consume chocolate, and if you are like any of the millions of women out there, you don’t hesitate too much to quell your craving. During this time a woman’s body is also spiking in progesterone and the different changes ultimately change your hormonal makeup for a few days.

This triggers the sebaceous glands in the face to excrete more oil, thus clogging your pores, ultimately leading to more acne. While hormones are the biggest contributor to a slightly redder than a normal face, many attest it to the chocolate.

Because many women are eating chocolate during a time of great hormonal change, they are attributing their higher than normal acne to chocolate when in reality it’s just a coincidence!

Given this fact, it’s easy to say that there is a misconception. Chocolate doesn’t cause acne as many people may think, but it might contribute a little to an individual’s acne.

Do the Different Types of Chocolate Affect Acne?

Now we know that chocolate might at worst only have a small impact on acne. However, we need to think about if the different types of chocolate – milk chocolate, white chocolate, and dark chocolate – may affect acne differently.

While there is no significant relationship between chocolate and acne, an increased or overindulgent routine with the sugary food item (like any other) can have other effects. Milk chocolate and white chocolate have a lot more added sugar and dairy products than its dark chocolate counterpart. If consumed at a high rate, the added sugar and dairy will strip your body of important vitamins. It also limits your diet, and doesn’t allow it to be well rounded, which is necessary for healthy skin.

As for dark chocolate, it does not have as much added sugar and can actually have health benefits. The higher the cocoa percentage means that it is more concentrated with riboflavin and antioxidants; both of which can be beneficial to a well-rounded diet.

Being acne-prone, or having more acne than the next person could be influenced by your diet, but is mostly determined by genetics and family history. If your skin is more sensitive to increased oil from your sebaceous glands or prone to getting clogged pores, cutting your favorite snack from your diet will probably just leave you unhappy.

It won’t help to get rid of your acne. The best remedy for that is to keep your face clean and apply a 2.5% benzoyl peroxide cream to the areas most prone to breakouts. Check out the acne-fighting products we recommend.

TDLR; The extra sugar in milk and white chocolate may increase acne, while dark chocolate generally has no effect on acne.

Conclusion: So Does Chocolate Cause Acne?

In short, not really. While it certainly doesn’t help, the amount of sugar in both white and milk chocolate may contribute a little to your acne, but it won’t be the biggest factor. Dark chocolate will have even less of an impact on your acne, but it might keep your skin healthy in some other ways.

So next time someone claims you shouldn’t eat the chocolate bar because it causes unwanted acne, tell them correlation does not equal causation and enjoy it – chocolate has virtually no effect on acne.

If you enjoyed this article make sure not to miss out on our post “Does smoking weed cause acne?”.

Do you think chocolate may be contributing to your acne? Share your story with us in the comments!

The emergence of marijuana has led to many medical concerns concerning this drug. As it becomes more popular and relevant in modern society among teens a very popular question concerning this drug is “Does Smoking Weed Cause Acne?” In fact, weed and acne are widely debated.

Individuals are worried that the use of this medicinal drug may get the better of your skin! However, there is no need to worry. Not only do we answer this question, but we dive into the science behind it as well. At the end of the article, we’ll give away some great tips to reduce and get rid of your acne so you can enjoy the medicinal benefits of marijuana without sacrificing an acne-free face.

Does Smoking Weed Cause Acne? The Science

Before we dive right into the answer let’s understand some of the chemicals that get involved when smoking weed.

Weed is smoked because it has a chemical called tetrahydrocannabinol also called THC for short and it’s smoking this chemical that actually gives the high associated with smoking weed.

Dr. Ariel Ostad says that the THC from weed actually causes a 3-5% increase in testosterone for users of the drug.

Because acne can be caused due to hormones that THC help fluctuates, smoking marijuana can assist in causing pimples.

However, he says that alone isn’t enough to cause an increase in acne. If there are other minor hormonal that are occurring at the same time then it is easy to blame acne breakouts on smoking when in reality it is because of many different factors.

What may also be contributing to an acne breakout is the actual smoke. Like cigarette smoke, marijuana smoke can expose the skin to more chemicals and add impurities to the skin that could cause acne.

Smoke isn’t a huge factor in causing acne, but it certainly plays a role.

Luckily, there are ways to reduce the impact weed can have on your skin.

Limiting Exposure To Marijuana Smoke

As we mentioned before, the smoke from marijuana can have a negative impact on your acne levels – thus already answering the question, “Does smoking weed cause acne?” Now that we know this, pay close attention to these next couple of paragraphs to help reduce the effects marijuana smoke will have on your skin.

To reduce your exposure to the smoke Dr. Ostad recommends putting on a thick cream or lotion to prevent the chemicals from going directly on to your skin. However, he suggests using a vaporizer instead of smoking to get the benefits from marijuana.

This will eliminate the smoke entirely and is not only better for your acne, but for your lungs as well. Most importantly, you are still able to feel the effects of the medicinal drug.

While purchasing a vaporizer may be more expensive than other vehicles to get the THC into your body, your health is well worth it. We recommend Aromatherapy Diffuser by TitanOwl.

The Aromatherapy Diffuser is the best cost-efficient vaporizer. It’s only $49.99 which is about 20-30 dollars less than other vaporizers. While it isn’t a premium vaporizer, it is extremely easy to use.

Set the temperature to around 345 degrees F and wait a couple of minutes for it to warm up so it will get it to the perfect temperature. From there, add some marijuana, and inhale the vapor that it produces.

The best part is you don’t need to hold the piece yourself as the diffuser has a slot for it.

However, if using a marijuana vaporizer isn’t for you there is another way to avoid smoke, but still enjoy the benefits of marijuana.

Another alternative to getting the benefits of marijuana without smoking is indulging in edibles – food products made with THC that are meant to be eaten to get high. Probably the most famous type of edible is the brownie.

However, edibles don’t normally taste that good leaving an earthy, dirty-like taste in your mouth after consumption. They never taste as good as the food they are modeled after.

While the taste of edibles is constantly improving you should still wait until there is a standardized process before indulging in them regularly. This is because edibles often have a large variation in the concentration of THC, making overdosing on THC very easy.

Wait a couple of years before making edibles your go-to method of marijuana consumption so that the quality can improve and get standardized.

The Conclusion

So does smoking weed cause acne? Ultimately, yes. The reasons are not 100% known, but there is significant evidence that implies that smoking weed directly causes and increases acne. Remember, there are two ways to combat this.

1) Use proper skincare health products to reduce the smoke and dirt’s effect on your pores

and

2) Try using a vaporizer so you can still experience the medicinal benefits without being affected by the smoke.