What Causes Cystic Acne?

If you have ever experienced the pain and embarrassment of cystic acne, you know just how much it can affect your social life, relationships, and career mobility. Why? Because of a lack of confidence. When you don’t look your best, you don’t feel your best, and therefore you don’t perform at your best. That is why this topic is so near and dear to me. I suffered from acne starting at the age of 11 years old, which lasted well into my 30s. I didn’t develop cystic acne until my 30s. It seems like it just appeared from nowhere.

I clearly remember seeing these large “nodules” under my skin. And since I’m African American, I also experienced hyperpigmentation which caused the cystic acne to be a dark, purply color.

Aside from how unsightly it looked, when I would touch the cystic acne, it would be painful. I couldn’t even pop the bumps because the cystic acne (learn more about cystic acne from Clean Beauty Gals) formed so deep under the skin that squeezing it was just sheer masochistic.

So, what did I do to get rid of my cystic acne? Let’s start at the beginning.

What causes a cystic pimple?

Before we just into what causes cystic acne. Let’s first discuss what cystic acne is. Cystic acne is a pimple that formed deep under the skin, that has been filled with pus and as a result, it becomes large and painful to the touch. Normal acne occurs when oil and dead skin cells clog your pores. Cystic acne is caused by bacteria that also gets into the pores, which is what causes the inflammation and the massive swelling. In my experience, it often leaves a scar, even if I don’t touch it.

Since I had my own struggle with this, I decided to do some more research to understand where the bacteria come from in the first place. Here’s what I found. There are microorganisms such as bacteria ( virus, fungus, mites) that live on the surface of your skin and deep in the hair and glands. Let me take a second to say that these microorganisms are harmless and, in some cases, vital to the health of your skin because they protect against invasion by harmful organisms. So, the goal is not to get rid of them, but to understand them better.

We now know that bacteria are already present on and deep in our skin, but how does it turn into acne? Our sebaceous glands release an oily film onto our skin which the bacteria can adhere to. This increases the growth of bacteria in the sebaceous glands, causing acne.

Can you pop cystic acne?

Can you pop cystic acne? No, because from experience, the pain is too great. Plus, the pus is so far deep under the skin that in some cases, you can’t pop it. Besides, if you are successful in popping it, which I have been at times, you are introducing more bacteria into the pore, which is the exact opposite of what we want. By doing this, you are prolonging the healing process and driving the infection deeper into the skin, resulting in scarring.

How do I get rid of cystic acne fast?

The licensed, naturopathic doctors, that we partner with, recommend that you start improving your cystic acne fast, from the inside out, when it comes to skin conditions. What does that mean? Start with your diet. Before you do anything, you need to clean out your gut, so that you can absorb the nutrients your skin needs to fight the bacteria. Try our 20-day Gut Challenge! For 20 days, you will be on a restricted diet and on a supplement regime.

I recommend everyone join my 20- Day Gut Challenge Facebook Group for the gut cleanse instructions and support. Support is crucial, because I completely screwed up the gut cleanse, my first time around. The biggest challenge was deciding what I could and could not eat. I’ve noticed that for my clients, that has also been a big challenge for them too.

The beautiful part of doing the gut cleanse is that the diet restricts your consumption of sugar ( natural and processed). Some people’s skin is very sensitive to sugar because bacteria feed on sugar. That is bacteria’s favorite food source. So, removing sugar from your diet for 20 days is crucial.

The cleanse also includes prebiotics and probiotics, which both promote the growth of healthy bacteria on your skin and reduce the number of bad bacteria in and on your skin.

During the cleanse, it’s recommended that you also take our 90-essential nutrients vitamin pack. Why? Because our 90-essential nutrient vitamin pack contains all 90 essential nutrients for someone to live a healthy life. So, now you can fortify and rebuild your health. Remember, by simultaneously completing the 20-day gut cleanse, you will start to absorb more of the 90 essential nutrients, for fast results!

Why is my cystic acne not going away?

If you check any health blog, they will tell you that you need to wash your face with a mild cleanser, use an oil-free moisturizer, don’t sleep in your makeup, don’t touch your face, etc. All these hacks don’t work for cystic acne. I even tried ProActivMD, and it couldn’t clear my acne. From experience, you must start from the inside out, with the gut cleanse we mentioned earlier.

Be honest with yourself. Did you really “commit” to following the 20-day gut cleanse and consistently taking your 90-essential nutrients? For years, I thought I could eat whatever I wanted if I took my vitamins, but it doesn’t work that way. A poor diet is contributing to your acne more than you think because a poor diet weakens your gut’s ability to absorb the nutrients you are eating. So, that expensive collagen you are taking, guess what, it won’t work as intended.

So be honest with yourself, and make sure you are committed to the program before you start taking it. If you need help, you can reach out to me as I’m a certified wellness coach, and I can walk you through the process while holding you accountable for the process.

How to prevent cystic acne?

So how can you prevent the bacteria in and on your skin from rapidly growing in your pores? The answer is proper nutrition. Washing your face with mild soap can’t penetrate deep into your skin to wash away the bacteria. So, let’s get to the root of the problem. How can we stop the growth of bacteria? We discussed earlier how bacteria feed on sugar. But what other foods feed the bad bacteria in/on your skin? If you want to prevent cystic acne, stay away from ( not an exhaustive list):

Sugar
Processed foods
Artificial sweeteners
Red meat
Alcohol

These foods have a negative effect on your skin microbiome (ecosystem). So if your cystic acne is severe, just stay away altogether. I know you may be thinking, what else is there left to eat? Don’t worry, partnering with a wellness coach, like myself, will provide you with an opportunity to learn what foods you can eat, and more importantly how to cook them. I find that most of my clients, don’t know how to cook vegetables so that they taste good, and you crave them.

You can also prevent cystic acne by consuming foods and supplements rich in probiotics and prebiotics. Here is a short list of probiotics and prebiotics foods and supplements you can take to get you started:

Probiotics

Yogurt

Kimchi

Tempeh

Kombucha

Miso

Apple Cider Vinegar

Prebiotics

Garlic

Asparagus

Bananas

Chicory Root

Leafy Greens

Onion

Honey

Artichoke

Dandelion Greens

Supplements

Lactobacillus

L. Acidophilus

B. Bifudum

Now that you know what to eat and what not to eat, it’s time to put everything into action. If you need help with that, you can go to our Skin Coaching for more support.

Sign up for a free consultation with me, your very own, certified wellness coach! I will help you put together a plan and hold your hand through the process to make sure you succeed!

“Cystic Acne: Uncover the Astonishing Causes and Transform Your Skin!”