Acne and Stress 

Does Stress Cause Acne? 

Stress and acne? Where’s the link? A few years ago a lot of people from the medical fields did not believe that acne has to do something with stress. Nowadays that relation is proved and there are numerous studies treating the problem.

The whole process and its preconditions are described differently in each study but the common conclusion is that stress can worsen acne if not being the main cause of for it.

In 2002 a group of scientists from the Stanford University School of Medicine observed 22 students suffering from acne. Then it was proved that the acne in these students is remarkably worsened by the exam stress.

 And the more difficult the subject for the exam was, the more severe the acne and blemish. And it was also noticed that the students who worsened their diet during the stressful period had a significant aggravation in the flare- ups of their acne and folliculitis.

 And here is how the scientists explain their observations. According to them stress causes worsening of acne in two ways – the first by causing the adrenal glands to make more hormones and the second by slowing down the healing process.

 Above the kidneys, there are the adrenal glands that secrete epinephrine and norepinephrine under stressful conditions while male hormones are secreted by adrenal cortex. These hormones have the ability to increase sebum production by improving the functions of the sebaceous gland.

And the acne is formed because of that excessive secretion. And as far as healing process is concerned it is an established fact that stress and its psychological consequences have the ability to reduce the capacity of the immune systems to heal wound up to 40% which also refers to the healing of acne.

 And as a whole stress worsens the overall skin condition because it induces the adrenal glands to overproduce cortisol, which is a steroid making sebaceous glands in our body produce more oil.

Thus the skin is becoming extra oily which makes acne more inflamed with pus-filled papules plus the simple whiteheads and blackheads. A study published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2003 is treating the problem of the possible chemical relationship between acne and other skin disorders, on one hand, and stress, on the other.

This study focuses on the effect of stress on a particular part of the brain called the hypothalamus which in stressful situations is detected to release a substance named corticotropin -releasing hormone or CRH.

And it is known that the oil glands into the skin are producing both CRH receptors and CRH which come in contact with extra CRH and induces sebum production resulting in acne flair- up.

Any acne treatments, medications and herbal remedies that don’t consider this psychological aspect will fail. That is why a dermatologist from Germany, Dr Jerome Litt, has formulated the main factors that acne patients should avoid as "SWAT" which stands for Stress, Worry, Anxiety, Tension, because all of them increase acne.