My Acne Story

My name is Evie, I am a degree qualified Naturopath that grew up in a small country town in Victoria, Australia; called Fish Creek. I am a passionate herb nerd, love connecting with other people, and I am absolutely fascinated by the human body and how it functions or dysfunctions.

I have written this blog so I can help others suffering from acne as I have and to provide you with information and education that I have collected through my own acne experience, my Naturopathy degree and from my acne patients. Information that I wish I had as a young teenage girl – to know that there are other safe and effective treatment options available for acne.

My acne journey started in adolescence/high school, I remember it wasn’t too bad/didn’t really bother me too much but of course people might have made comments here and there of my pimples on my back in the change rooms before P.E lessons or what not – which would have affected my confidence to a degree being a young teenage girl trying to fit in like everyone else. One of the girls at school was taking Roaccutane (a harsh acne drug that I’m sure you may have either used or at least considered if you suffer from acne) and I thought at the time – oh why not – that seems like an easy effective fix to me!

I also faintly remember probably using a course of antibiotics and harsh benzol peroxide gel to try and treat my acne too. Luckily for me, having two courses of Roaccutane stopped my acne and my skin cleared right up with minimal side effects – sounds good right?

Just a few nosebleeds, severely dry lips/skin, and blood tests to see if my liver was ‘ok’ later… if only I knew how damaging and toxic that drug was to my precious body at the time…

Well, all was well, and acne was a thing of the past for quite a few years. Until I moved into an apartment in Melbourne that had pipe leaks and mould in the basement carpark where I parked my car everyday – around the same time I was going through a break-up and finishing the last semester of my Naturopathy degree – so there were toxins and some stress flying in the air. My acne had begun to return to my surprise.

Fast forward to this year, I have done a gut microbiome test and have three bacterial overgrowths, low beneficial strains, higher end zonulin (marker of intestinal permeability) and blood detected in my stool – I did this test after having antibiotics for a surgery and my acne flared A LOT – so will be treating this of course!

So of course, as a Naturopath, I have been supporting my body to detoxify these toxins and have also worked on my blood sugar regulation, gut microbiome, nutritional status, lymphatic congestion, hormones, skincare, stress, diet and lifestyle and other factors that have come into my own acne. 

My acne has healed quite a lot in this time and continues to heal – however I do still have acne flare ups here and there depending on what is out of balance (as I am human!) – the most important thing I want you to know is that the skin is a reflection of all aspects of our health and wellbeing – it is just one of the ways that our body communicates with us – so please honour this, connect to this and don’t suppress it or be ashamed of it. The skin will flare just like our health will - it is more about how we manage this emotionally and physically.

I also want you to know that you are more than your acne – acceptance and self-love here is crucial to healing both physically and emotionally from acne and it is ok to not have perfectly clear skin at all times – we are not meant to be perfect!