# Can Hormonal Imbalances Cause Persistent Breakouts
Your skin tells a story about what’s happening inside your body. When you notice breakouts that keep coming back in the same spots, especially along your jawline and chin, hormonal imbalance might be the culprit.
Hormonal acne happens when your body’s hormone levels shift or become unbalanced. The main hormones involved are androgens, which are male hormones that both men and women have. When androgen levels get too high, they trigger your skin’s oil glands to produce excess sebum. This extra oil clogs your pores, traps bacteria, and causes inflammation that leads to those stubborn, painful bumps.
The connection between hormones and breakouts is straightforward. Androgens stimulate your sebaceous glands to enlarge and work harder. At the same time, estrogen normally helps counteract this effect by reducing oil production. When estrogen levels drop or androgens rise, this balance gets disrupted. Your skin produces more oil than it can handle, and breakouts follow.
Women experience hormonal acne most commonly because their hormone levels fluctuate throughout the month. About seven to ten days before your period starts, progesterone levels rise, which increases oil production and can trigger breakouts. This is why many women notice their acne flares up at predictable times during their cycle.
Pregnancy brings another wave of hormonal changes. The surge in hormones during pregnancy can make oil glands overactive, leading to clogged pores and acne flare-ups. Some women’s skin improves during pregnancy due to hormonal balance shifts, while others experience worse breakouts.
Menopause creates a different hormonal situation. As estrogen levels fall during menopause, testosterone’s effects go unopposed. This means androgens have more influence on your skin without estrogen to balance them out. The result is increased oil production and persistent acne, even though your skin might feel drier overall due to low estrogen levels.
Polycystic ovary syndrome, or PCOS, is a medical condition that causes elevated androgen levels. Women with PCOS frequently develop hormonal acne because their bodies produce too many male hormones. Other signs of PCOS include irregular periods, weight gain, and excess facial hair.
Stress plays a supporting role in hormonal acne. When you’re stressed, your body produces more cortisol, the stress hormone. This triggers increased oil production and inflammation in your skin, making existing acne worse or creating new breakouts.
You can identify hormonal acne by looking at where it appears and when it shows up. Hormonal breakouts cluster on your lower face, particularly along the jawline, chin, and lower cheeks. They often extend to your neck, chest, and back. The pimples tend to be deep, painful bumps rather than surface blackheads. They develop under the skin, feel tender to touch, and heal more slowly than regular pimples. If your breakouts follow your menstrual cycle or appear during stressful periods, that’s another sign pointing to hormonal causes.
Regular acne treatments often don’t work well for hormonal acne because the root cause is internal hormone imbalance, not just surface bacteria or oil. This is why hormonal acne can feel frustrating and persistent. You might use all the right skincare products and still see breakouts return.
Several factors can worsen hormonal acne. Poor sleep quality, high sugar and dairy intake, harsh skincare products, and poor gut health all contribute to making breakouts worse. Environmental pollution and lifestyle stress add to the problem. These factors don’t cause hormonal acne by themselves, but they amplify the effects of hormonal imbalance.
Understanding that your persistent breakouts stem from hormonal imbalance is the first step toward managing them effectively. Unlike acne caused by bacteria or poor hygiene, hormonal acne requires addressing the underlying hormone fluctuations. This might involve lifestyle changes like stress management and better sleep, dietary adjustments, or working with a dermatologist to explore treatment options that target hormonal causes.
The good news is that hormonal acne is extremely common, especially among teenagers going through puberty and women in their twenties and thirties. Recognizing the hormonal connection helps you seek appropriate treatment instead of continuing with skincare routines that won’t solve the real problem.
Sources
https://drankitmehra.com/blogs/hormonal-acne-causes-treatment-dermatologist-guide
https://www.medicaldaily.com/hormonal-acne-adults-acne-causes-skin-hormones-explained-474128
https://www.drbatras.com/hormonal-acne-what-causes-it-and-how-to-treat-it
https://www.newriverdermatology.com/blog/how-to-manage-hormonal-acne-during-menopause
https://www.westchestercosmeticdermatology.com/blog/adult-acne-why-it-happens-and-how-to-treat-it/
https://woodlandswellness.com/why-middle-aged-women-are-turning-to-acne-fillers-for-solutions/