wow! i haven't been to this thread in awhile! thanks to everyone who posted -- it gives me hope! i'm already down another dress size, and i've been taking andrew lessman's healthy hair, skin and nails and my acne has really cleared up. also, i did what someone said and got another facial cleanser from serious skin care that isn't as strong and it's worked wonders. i haven't had new zits pop up and the old ones are fading. fading SLOWLY, but nonetheless, fading.

anyway, i'm even more motivated sticking to this low carb woe(i discovered i don't get cravings as bad when i do vitamens, so i upped my carbs a bit and am still exercising--seems to be working; in other words, i'm not on atkins but fully believe in cutting out white flour and sugar and keeping carbs low)

anyway thanks so much guys. it's an inspiration to keep me going!

Just wanted to resurrect this thread as my experiences have been a little different to everyone elses.

I have really bad acne on my chin. It seems to have gotten worse in the last couple of months whilst low-carbing and I don't know why. Initially it seemed to clear up a bit but now it's back full force.

Anybody else had their acne get WORSE on low-carb?

Mine only got slightly better on low-carb. What finally got rid of it was going gluten-free. I've struggled with it for 30 years and gluten-free is the only thing that has cleared it up. Even now, if I get accidently glutened, I am guaranteed a break out in the next day or two. Otherwise, nada.

It kinda ticks me off. All of the years I've struggled with this with doctor after doctor telling me "It doesn't matter what you eat". Well, it's pretty clear to me that it DOES matter what you eat.

I don't eat anything with gluten in it - in fact I hardly eat any variety at all now in the hopes of pinning down exactly what's making it bad. It might be dairy - which I'm finding very hard to give up. I'm glad you found out what it was causing yours though!

Okay.

Just as a quick aside - gluten can be hidden in a lot of things. One of them is makeup, particularly lipstick. You might check that, just in case, plus shampoos and soaps.

Casein, the protein in dairy, can affect a lot of people like gluten does, so that's a possibility too.

Gluten is in things like processed foods, salad dressings, soy sauce, oats, processed meats (sometimes), sausages, vitamins... its one of those ingredients that lurks in an incredible number of things.

Same deal with casein (the protein in milk).

I found that a higher intake of Zinc cleared up my face. Atkins is higher in zinc so that might be one of the reasons.

Any healthy diet that has plenty of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants will help complexion.

I had acne for years and soon as I changed my diet it went away. Even though my doctor never suggested a change in diet would of done good when I was younger.

I don't agree that any diet helps though - although I still have acne on my chin, the rest of my compexion is pretty good now - it wasn't when I was eating a lot of fruit and vegetables (higher carb). I take zinc.