Women have special problems when it comes to acne.
Women often have acne well into middle age.
Even those who never had acne as teenagers may have it later on in life.
There are several different reasons for this.
Since hormone fluctuations play a big part in causing acne, people notice differences in their acne when their hormones go through changes.
Women have many hormonal variations in their lives, so they are prime candidates for acne flare-ups.
A woman may have a cycle of acne that goes along with her menstrual cycle.
The hormones estrogen and progesterone are produced by their ovaries in different amounts depending on each point in the cycle.
As the two hormones vary, the symptoms of the acne vary along with them.
For many women, the flare-ups are premenstrual.
In other words, their acne is the worst right before and at the beginning of their periods.
Towards the ends of women's cycles, the acne tends to fade out.
One method that has been proposed for this phenomenon is taking birth control pills.
Some birth control pills advertise that they control acne.
It has not been settled by research just how effective these pills are.
Many women and doctors claim that they do work well.
Other factors that affect women are polycystic ovary disease and stress.
When women have polycystic ovary disease, it changes their hormonal output.
This leads to acne flare-ups.
As for the stress, women are often put in high stress positions, especially if they are trying to work in an intense job and raise a family at the same time.
The stress can influence their hormones, which in turn leads to acne problems.
Women may have acne for the first time in their lives when they become pregnant.
The worst time is during the first two trimesters of the pregnancy.
It may last throughout the pregnancy, though.
If the mother breastfeeds, it could last during that time as well.
The main reason women have acne during pregnancy is that the levels of progesterone are in full swing.
This hormone does many jobs during the pregnancy.
It makes the uterus ready for the fertilized egg to implant on its surface.
Progesterone will make the smooth muscles relax to prevent labor from happening too soon.
It will also loosen up the joints to get the body ready for delivery.
At the same time, progesterone is a more androgenic hormone than estrogen, so it cranks up the sebum-making sebaceous glands and brings on acne breakouts.
If you are a pregnant woman with acne, you do not have as many treatment options as you would if you were not pregnant.
The oral medications and many topical medications are out, because they have side effects that will harm your fetus.
Even preparations with large amounts of aloe vera can be harmful.
You are better off to stick to careful cleansing, benzoyl peroxide, and drinking plenty of water to keep hydrated.