Constipation Can Trigger Acne According To A Naturopathic Doctor — Here's How

After helping thousands of acne patients heal their acne over the years, I know this for sure: I cannot help my patients clear up their hormonal acne unless I help them resolve their constipation first.

It may seem like a bit of a stretch—I mean, we understand that the state of the bowel influences your skin, but can it really affect your breakouts that much? The answer is a solid yes. Traditional naturopathic doctrine has always recognized the strong relationship between the gut and the skin, and the connection between hormonal acne and constipation is especially solid. (Editors note: Modern medicine is catching up via expansive research on the gut-skin connection1, thankfully.)

The most common causes of constipation include lifestyle choices such as a low-fiber diet and not enough water or exercise. But many people with acne also have other factors that affect the mobility of their bowels and can lead to a vicious cycle of constipation and acne.  

Many acne patients have many issues with their gut and motility. In fact, often there are genetic polymorphisms (put very simply: something that's inherited) in acne patients—which is one of the reasons that acne is often genetic—that can even lead to liver stagnation. This affects bile production, which can inhibit the motility of the large intestine, leading to constipation.

Hormonal acne is often the result of an imbalance between estrogen and progesterone levels, and very often estrogen is the dominant hormone. The goal of healing hormonal acne is to balance these hormones, and constipation can make this incredibly difficult.

The body needs to metabolize and remove excess estrogen from the body, and the liver and large intestine have to work very closely to make this happen efficiently. The liver is responsible for inactivating estrogen by adding a methyl group2 and making it water-soluble, and then the large intestine is supposed to remove it from the body.