Saying Goodbye to Adult Acne by Giving up Dairy

Having stubborn breakouts of adult acne can oftentimes be unbearable. With the various options of acne-fighting products out there, it’s almost enough to give up hope when you can’t find something that would treat your persistent skin problem.

Writer Christian Allaire, a longtime acne sufferer, recounts his journey in Vogue as he discovered that going dairy-free helps him achieve clear skin.

Allaire’s story is quite relatable for some – from trying every serum, moisturizer, toner and mask available in the market to exfoliating aggressively and drinking lots of water during the day but, gaining zero results. He consulted with his doctor who then prescribed either taking Isotretinoin (known as Accutane before) or making some modifications with his current diet.

He started avoiding dairy, combined with following a skin-care routine of cleansing, exfoliating, and moisturizing. He strictly consumed vegetables, fruit, gluten and animal proteins on the first two weeks when he started noticing changes. And by his 22nd day of going dairy-free, he was able to achieve clear skin.

“It was like magic!” Allaire wrote. “The solution to my lifelong skin struggles turned out to be surprisingly simple: cutting out dairy.”

Allaire emphasized, though, that no dermatologist or doctor ever pointed out dairy as the sole thing to blame for acne. By searching online, he discovered that there’s little evidence that shows the link between consuming dairy and having acne breakouts.

A 2013 article that was published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, says that there’s a little connection between the two and that avoiding dairy “should not be used as a sole treatment for acne but rather as a complement to proven acne treatments.”

However, a study that was published in the same journal in 2015, says that “consumption of low-fat and skim milk, but not full-fat milk, was positively associated with acne.”

Celebrity dermatologist, Dennis Gross, says that “There is no clinical data that shows that consuming dairy has any negative impact on the skin,” but he added that he has seen people whose skin problems have improved after limiting their consumption of dairy.

But then, the effect still varies from person to person. Gross acknowledges the fact that it might also depend on how much and what kind of dairy a person is consuming.

“I think it might make a difference if someone is consuming organic milk versus milk where the animals are fed hormones. It’s possible those added ingredients can make it into the bloodstream of my patients and induce acne.”

In conclusion, Allaire said that consciously avoiding dairy is “a small price to pay for a clearer complexion”, mentioning in the end that it helps to be aware of what you’re getting your skin into if you have an occasional slip-up.

Source: Vogue