The True Cause of Acne

Many of us have tried countless topical creams and prescription medication to clear up our skin, and while it may have provided some relief in the short term, in most cases, it won’t permanently get rid of your acne, and can actually make it worse. This is because acne, and other skin conditions are a symptom of a deeper problem, a lymphatic problem. The reason you have probably not heard this term before is because unfortunately allopathic medicine has not discovered the lymphatic system and its connection to the kidneys for elimination of waste. 

Western medicine is more concerned with ‘treating diseases’ with harmful pharmaceuticals rather than addressing the underlying cause of why this symptom, or ‘disease,’ is there in the first place. So what is the underlying cause and how can we fix it? 

What causes acne?

Skin problems are a sign of systemic acidosis, the cause of most degenerative ‘diseases.’ Your skin is the biggest eliminatory organ of the human body and when your kidneys are not filtering out acidic waste from your lymph system, the burden lies on the skin for eliminating this waste causing symptoms including acne, psoriasis, rashes, dermatitis, dandruff etc. 

The reason women break out during before and during menstruation is because estrogen increases during this time and estrogen is acidic. With an increase in acidity and a stagnant lymph, you will see more breakouts. This is the same reason why you break out when you are stressed, as stress also increases acidity in the body. The reason you don’t want to take accutane or any other type of pharmaceutical drug is because they enhance or suppress the problem by dumping more acids into your system.

The reason you don’t want to take Accutane or any other type of pharmaceutical drug is because they enhance or suppress the problem by dumping more acids into your system.

The Lymph System

Your lymph or ‘sewer’ systems job is to collect this acidic waste from all these processes in the body including by-products from metabolism, respiration, digestion, activity etc. This waste is then brought to the lymph nodes where macrophages break the acids down ready to be eliminated through the kidneys. Since the bacteria in your lymph nodes is responsible for helping break down these acids, you NEVER want to take antibiotics and kill off that bacteria. The lymphatic system is systemic, it touches every cell in your body. If your lymph is not moving acids out through your kidneys, over time, this acidic waste will begin to damage your cells and cause everything from arthritis and fibromyalgia to lupus and tumors. So how do we get our lymph system moving and our kidneys to filter out these acids? Regenerative detoxification.

Regenerative detoxification is a simple and natural process that will change the chemistry of your body from an acid, deteriorating environment to an alkaline, healing environment, allowing your body to naturally cleanse and rebuild itself. 

The first step in detoxification is to eliminate all acid and mucus forming foods. This includes protein, dairy and grains. These foods have an acid ash when consumed creating a cationic, or acidic environment of coagulation and agglomeration. Acids are not only corrosive to tissues in the body but can also be deadly if blood becomes too acidic. These foods also cause excessive mucus production in the body's tissues, especially dairy and refined sugars. 

Once the body becomes overburdened with this mucus from the lymph system, the mucus itself then becomes the problem. It can block proper cellular function, causing hypoactivity of the respective organ or gland. Meats are also putrefactive and will invite parasites in the body. It’s also important to move away from cooked foods. Cooking food will change the chemistry of the food to a more acidic pH and that is why you want to move to a raw diet of mainly fruits and vegetables.

Energising your cells with energy from raw, living foods is vital. Without the power of live foods, which are full of nutrition, hydration and electricity, you cannot accomplish alkalisation and detoxification. 

If your problem is much deeper and you’ve had acne for a long time, you want to stick to fruits only, especially astringent fruits (grapes, citrus fruits) as they pull toxins out of the body faster and open your kidneys. 

Those with genetic or chronic weaknesses may also need to work on specific glands using herbs to help clean and strengthen these glands. For example, when you have skin problems you will most likely also have adrenal problems as these glands sit on top of the kidneys and play a role in kidney filtration. 

Weak adrenals are not only a problem for kidney filtration but also the cause of anxiety. Responses can vary from mild shyness and introversion, to chronic worry and acute anxiety attacks. With skin problems, also comes malabsorption in the GI tract and you will most likely lose a lot of weight during the detoxification process but don’t worry you will gain it back once your GI tract begins to heal. 

In addition to a stagnant lymph system, malabsorption, adrenal and kidney weakness, your thyroid can also be adding to the problem - check your basal temperature (it should be in the high 70s/low 80s ). The thyroid controls body temperature and your ability to sweat out toxins through the skin. When your thyroid is low, your skin doesn't want to sweat so it’s important to get your thyroid up. Keep in mind that while you are detoxing, your skin conditions can get worse because you are promoting hydration interstitially (around the cell) and moving things around in the body. 

For those who consume a high protein diet, it's important to transition to a raw diet slowly in order to avoid a difficult ‘healing crisis.’ A healing crisis happens when your body is cleansing itself and you may experience mild symptoms such as cold and flu like symptoms, rashes, migraines to more severe symptoms like vomiting, loss of sign, loose teeth. Don’t panic! this is just your body's way of eliminating mucus and weakness from the body.

Always remember that you never want to stop a cold or flu-like symptom because this is the best way your body can get rid of waste and mucus.

If you have a lot of subcutaneous lymphatic stagnation it can be a while before your acne clears up. As you can see, acne is not just a skin problem and like with all health issues, your entire body is involved even though you may see a symptom in one part and that is why it’s always important to always take a holistic approach to health. While your diet is the number one area of focus, there are other tools that can be used to help the processes of detoxification for skin issues. 

Helpful Detox Tools

Hot and cold compresses Applying hot and cold compresses to the skin and back of the head will help stimulate lymphatic movement in this area. 

Castor oil packs If you have stubborn kidneys, applying castor oil packs to the kidneys can help open them up. See castor oil guide here.

Herbs Herbs are a great tool to help with the detoxification as they are tissue specific and will heal clean and strengthen. Some of us are at deeply chronic and degenerative levels that a raw diet isn't enough for us to heal and herbs become essential. 

Iridology Iridology (read: what is iridology) is man's greatest tool for tissue analysis and gives you incredible insight into every cell and fluid in the body. Knowing which areas are weakest will help you target these areas with herbs.