Acne and Hair Loss Linked Directly to Stress

Teens stressed out over their acne won't be too pleased with the results of a recent survey being published in today's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The very act of stressing out over the problem seems to be the way to make the condition worse.

The culprit is a stress hormone known as corticotrophin-releasing hormone, or CRH. An increase in the CRH signals oil glands in the body to step up production, which can lead to acne and exacerbate oily skin.

The number and variety of CRH receptors varies in skin cells, depending in part on the male sex hormone testosterone and growth hormone. This would imply that CRH might play a role in "male pattern baldness" (which affects both men and women, by the way). The link is preliminary and more study is needed to confirm it, but right now it looks very plausible.

A research team from the Free University of Berlin executed the study, led by Christos Zouboulis. They studied human skin cells in their laboratory-specifically sebaceous glands, which sit near hair follicles.

Dr. Samuel McCann is an endocrinologist at Louisiana State University's Pennington Biomedical Research Center and co-author of the study. He believes that their test results now need to be replicated in humans.

He's hopeful that if they can duplicate their results, they could then use that information to help people with oily skin problems by medication that would suppress CRH, and conversely help those with dry patches additional amounts of the hormone.

Linking stress to acne has polarized the dermatology community. The official stance of the American Academy of Dermatology is that it does not exist, but among their members not all are so convinced.

Further study is ongoing.