Does stress cause acne?
Stress is commonly blamed for the development of acne. Stress can have many physiologic effects on the body, including changes in hormones that may theoretically lead to acne. In some cases the stress may actually be caused by the acne lesions, not the other way around! If the acne is being treated effectively, stress is not likely to have much impact on the majority of people.
There has been a long debate about stress-related acne in health circles. Until a couple of years ago, the medical field was divided on the issue of whether stress causes acne, but recently there has been many clinical studies which show that stress can worsen acne. One such study was conducted by the Stanford University School of Medicine in 2002. Although it was a small study, involving just 22 students suffering from acne, the professors involved in the study conclusively proved that the exam stress worsened acne in these students. According to researchers, their findings indicated that “Subjects who had the greatest increases in stress during examination periods also had the greatest exacerbation in acne severity.” They also noted that worsening of diet during stressful period contributed significantly in flare-ups of acne in these students. Stress causes worsening of acne in two ways. First, by stimulating adrenal glands to produce more hormones and secondly, by slowing down the h
A. Stress is commonly blamed for the development of acne. Stress can have many physiologic effects on the body, including changes in hormones that may theoretically lead to acne. In some cases the stress may actually be caused by the acne lesions, not the other way around! If the acne is being treated effectively, stress is not likely to have much impact on the majority of people.
