Acne on face or just back/chest on trt

[wemmington]

So I'm 36 and going to start trt soon (test=251) and I've read that trt can cause acne but it seems most people only get it on their back and or chest and not on their face.

The reason I ask is when I was a teenager I had severe acne on my face and moderate acne on back/chest and had to take accutane twice to get rid of it. I'm not worried about back/chest but if I get severe acne on my face again I will freak the f out.

tia

 

[Jimstigator]

Hard to tell. Some guys get it some don't. It can be blamed on high estrogen but that's not even always true.

I got back acne from months 5-7 of TRT then it just kind of stopped. All throughout that period I had low estrogen.

Like you, I had bad childhood acne on my face and used Accutane. TRT has not caused a single pimple on my face.

-Jim

 

[Mprtz]

I got acne on my back and shoulders a few months into TRT. I think my E2 was too high - upped my AI and it cleared up and hasn't come back in these 2 years.

 

[Havasu]

The only time you should have acne issues are if your e2 numbers get high. Estrogen, for the most part, causes acne, not Testosterone. I would say that my skin is sensitive to various supplements and it's reactions. For instance I added in Acetyl L-Carnitine to my supplements not to long ago. I started breaking out. I stopped taking it, and I'm good. If I take any thing with collagen support in it for tendon/ligament/cartilage support, it makes me break out even though it's supposed to be good for your skin.

I say that, to say that my test on TRT is at around 1000-1010 at last check. I don't have acne issues.

 

[bshank]

My experience seems to be going like Jimstigators. 4 months in I started getting it on my back real bad. It's almost all cleared up now and I know my e2 was in check... maybe even low. I had no acne on my face but I wasn't prone to acne on my face as a teenager.... then again I wasn't prone to it on my back either.

 

[Mrrippedzilla]

The only time you should have acne issues are if your e2 numbers get high. Estrogen, for the most part, causes acne, not Testosterone.

Completely and utterly wrong.

I already explained this in a separate thread but acne is caused primarily by elevated free testosterone with insulin exacerbating the issue - elevated e2 by itself has very little to do with it and does NOT cause acne.
Elevated test leads to hypertrophy of the sebaceous glands, increased sebum production, and increased density for bacteria to grow - all leading to acne production.
The experiences of members in this thread and elsewhere provides further evidence for this.

Specifically relating to TRT, I suspect this is simply a case of acne being a side effect of the journey to getting fully dialled in with your protocol - it should pass once you've found the sweet spot.

 

[Jimstigator]

Completely and utterly wrong.

I already explained this in a separate thread but acne is caused primarily by elevated free testosterone with insulin exacerbating the issue - elevated e2 by itself has very little to do with it and does NOT cause acne.
Elevated test leads to hypertrophy of the sebaceous glands, increased sebum production, and increased density for bacteria to grow - all leading to acne production.
The experiences of members in this thread and elsewhere provides further evidence for this.

Specifically relating to TRT, I suspect this is simply a case of acne being a side effect of the journey to getting fully dialled in with your protocol - it should pass once you've found the sweet spot.

This has been my experience. When I change doses, especially increases, my skin gets extremely oily from head to toe. Over the following weeks it tends to back off to what I would consider above average but not too bad.

For the sake of comparison... I've had to use lotion over my entire body every winter to battle dry skin for as long as I can remember. This year with my newfound oily skin, no lotion required.

-Jim