If you’re an adult struggling with breakouts, especially around the jawline, chin or cheeks, you’re not alone. Adult acne, and in particular perimenopausal acne, is more common than we realise. One of the less talked-about, but super powerful, pieces of the puzzle? Your gut.

Let’s dive into how what’s happening inside your belly could be showing up on your face and what we can do about it.

How Gut Health Affects the Skin

Your gut is home to trillions of bacteria that help you digest food, absorb nutrients, regulate hormones, and support your immune system. When this delicate ecosystem becomes  unbalanced (what we call dysbiosis), it can cause a ripple effect through the body, which can result in inflammation and skin issues.

Here’s what this might look like in real life:

• Bloating, irregular bowel movements or food intolerances alongside breakouts
  
• Acne that flares up during periods of stress or after antibiotics
  
• Skin that’s reactive, inflamed or slow to heal
  

In perimenopause, our fluctuating hormones are already making things harder for our skin. Combine that with poor gut health, and it’s a recipe for congestion and breakouts that feel impossible to clear.

What’s the Link Between Hormones and the Gut?

Your gut plays a key role in hormone regulation, especially estrogen. If your gut isn’t working efficiently, estrogen can recirculate in the body instead of being eliminated. This leads to imbalances that can worsen perimenopausal symptoms, including acne.

It’s also worth noting that chronic inflammation from the gut can trigger the skin’s oil glands to go into overdrive. More oil = more congestion = more breakouts.

How To Support Gut Health for Clearer Skin

While this all may seem scary & overwhelming, there are some simple changes that you can start making to support your gut health:

🫐 Focus on fibre: It feeds the good bacteria! Think vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and seeds. Ideally you should be aiming for 30 different plant based foods weekly, this helps to make sure you are getting a diverse range of fibre types (and nutrients)

🧃 Avoid inflammatory triggers: For many people, this includes processed sugar, alcohol, and dairy. For some people oats and wheat can also be triggers.

🦠 Consider a quality probiotic: Or at least fermented foods like sauerkraut, kefir, or kimchi.

🧘‍♀️ Prioritise stress management: The gut and brain are connected. Stress affects your digestion (and your breakouts!). Usually in stressful times we tend to crave more sugary foods also.

💧 Hydrate well: This helps with digestion and detoxification.

And of course, if you’re doing all of the above and still struggling, it’s time to dig deeper – literally and figuratively.

📩 Book an acne consultation and let’s get to the root of it — together.

We’ll look at your skin and your internal health so we can build a plan that’s holistic, personalised, and finally gives you some answers. Because adult acne isn’t just a surface problem, and you deserve to feel confident in your skin again.

If you are struggling with other issues like bloating, upset stomach, constipation or a reactive gut, I highly recommend booking in with Anne Currenti. Anne is a local naturopath with over 25 years experience that can help to dive much deeper into your gut health. http://www.ahwb.com.au/