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Too Much Bad Bacteria In My Gut Caused An Acne Flare-Up: The Gut-Skin Link

Claire Yi

So I recently have been struggling with a flare-up of blemishes or acne on my skin and it’s been making me insecure for a hot sec on camera so I wouldn’t make content because of it, but this is literally the point of my content — to share my gut-health story and beauty tips from healing yourself from the inside out from an East Asian healing perspective.

Disclaimer: My STORY

I think I figured out what the problem was, and bear with me, I’m not a professional, but I get treated by someone who has years of experience with pulse diagnosis and other East Asian healing & martial arts techniques, and has helped improve my gut health vastly. Then, I do my own research online to try to explain the phenomena in a way those not familiar with East Asian health practices can understand. It just may be a bit lacking as I have no scientific background; sometimes science in America hasn’t been able to yet prove in an experimental way the “hows” and “whys”; and if the scientific explanation has been done in east Asia, I can’t disseminate the information because that’s a level of Korean I haven’t yet achieved. All of the following is what has been recommended to me from my East Asian doctor — note that these recommendations are for me and wellness is different for everyone! But there’s always some trial-and-error you can do on your own at your own risk. I also link all of my sources I’ve used to research at the bottom of this page.

The Skin-Gut Link

Source: Macrophi Inc.

In simple terms, I had some sort of unhealthy bacteria in my gut. Everyone has unhealthy bacteria and a healthy level is good, as long as it’s balanced with good bacteria. Skin health is very closely tied with gut health. How? Because if the gut has a weak lining, gut bacteria can leak through the gut barrier into your bloodstream, which can lead to inflammation in the skin and disrupt the skin microbiome, potentially resulting in acne.

High levels of LPS E.coli bacteria is correlated with those who have acne, and I think I ate something pretty frequently that must have contributed to that. I’m not sure what, but my mom thinks it’s this fermented pollack roe that I’ve been eating as a side-dish frequently for weeks— who knows.

The Remedy

I drank this Korean Pear Ginger drink that takes 25 minutes to make to flesh out the bacteria in my system. Ginger has bacteria-killing and anti-inflammatory properties. Pear helps with digestion and helps with bowel movements. I drank half a cup before every meal for 14 days. I also used it as a face mask, heating it up, and pouring it over a dry single-use face mask. Then, I massaged Vitamin E oil onto my skin before bed.

I also have this Korean radish soup with every recipe. Korean radish is also known to help with digestion and flushes waste out of your system, helping with bowel movements and clearing out the bad bacteria.

Note: I’ve also been trying to get a lot more sleep, which has helped immensely too. My skin health is so mostly affected by sleep, stress, and gut health, which the former two factors aren’t surprising considering gut health is greatly linked to sleep and stress.

Sources: