Review, 2013
What skin problems happen during the menstrual cycle?
Acne is the most common skin condition that flares before your period. Some women also get skin reactions to progesterone or have other skin conditions that worsen at the end of the cycle.
What they did
Review article describing skin conditions that occur in relation to the menstrual cycle.
What they found
The most frequent skin condition during the menstrual cycle is catamenial acne, driven by hormone-related changes in sebaceous gland activity. Some women develop autoimmune progesterone dermatitis, a skin reaction to progesterone with variable clinical appearances. Other skin conditions are not specifically caused by the cycle but are exacerbated at the end of it.
What it means for you
Hormonal changes during the menstrual cycle trigger acne and other skin changes in some women. This is a review of existing knowledge rather than new research, so it describes what is known without providing evidence about how common these conditions are or how strongly they affect women.
About the study
- Original title
- Cyclic catamenial dermatoses
- Authors
- Hermanns-Lê T, Hermanns JF, Lesuisse M et al.
- Journal
- BioMed research international
- Year
- 2013
- Study design
- Review
- What was tested
- None—review of menstrual cycle-related skin conditions
- Open access
- Yes
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1155/2013/156459
Original abstract
Circulating sex hormones follow major fluctuations during the ovarian cycle. The so-called premenstrual syndrome represents a global condition grouping the diversity of catamenial disorders. At the skin level, the sebaceous gland activity is obviously modulated by these endocrine fluctuations. In addition, a series of pathological manifestations take place simultaneously in some women. Among them, the most frequent skin condition is represented by catamenial acne. Concurrently, the autoimmune progesterone dermatitis refers to a diversity of skin alterations resulting from an immune reaction to progesterone. It is present under variable clinical aspects. A series of other recurrent skin conditions are not specifically induced but are merely exacerbated at the end of the ovarian cycle.
Reproduced under CC-BY.