When it comes to acne, the health of your liver is just as important as the health of your gut. The liver is part of the digestive system and plays a major role in the development of acne.

Yvette’s Story

When Yvette had her first coaching call with me inside The Clear Skin Solution, she had been dealing with acne for years. She had the painful, cystic spots deep under the skin and also clusters of whiteheads. She had taken the pill for over 10 years and done two rounds of Accutane. Yet she still had a face (and back) full of acne at 34.

Yvette was so upset by the state of her skin that she often called in sick to work because of it. She also told me she had stopped visiting friends and always made excuses when they asked her to go out for dinner.

That is no way to live.

I worked with Yvette over the next month to first, make sure her digestive system was functioning well (aka having daily bowel movements and digesting her food well).

This is an important first step because your colon is how your body excretes the toxins and hormones filtered by your liver. If that channel of elimination is pushing waste out daily, those toxins and hormones start to re-absorb into the body.

From there, we started her on a liver detoxification protocol.

I knew the liver was going to be a key piece for her because of her history of birth control and Accutane use. Both of these drugs have a massive impact on the health of your liver. I’ll share later on what we did for her. First, we have to re-wind a bit and talk through exactly how the liver impacts acne.

The Body’s Powerhouse

While the liver is famous for filtering out those glasses of wine and cocktails we love to indulge it, it has a number of other responsibilities, too. Over 500 actually.

One of its main jobs though? Detoxification. Everything you eat, drink, breathe or apply to your skin must be filtered through the liver.

Every. Thing.

A hundred or so years ago, this was a cake-walk for the liver.

But in today’s society, the liver is inundated with chemicals and toxins found in the food you eat, the water you drink, the prescriptions you take, and the personal care products you slather on to your skin.

Think of it like this…

The liver is the “gutters” on your house. When those gutters get jam-packed with leaves, sticks and other debris, they aren’t able to filter the water away from your house properly. You’re then left with the water trying to to find any way out.

The same goes for your liver.

When it’s overwhelmed from all of these chemicals and toxins, the body sends that backlog to it’s biggest detoxification organ: the skin.

Hello, breakouts.

Not to mention, it adds to an increase systemic inflammation that is a main contributor to acne.

Acne Prescriptions

Prescriptions and over the counter medications (like Tylenol) all affect the health of your liver.

And when it comes to most acne sufferers…

…They’ve usually taken a number of prescriptions — from the birth control pill all the way to Accutane.

Every single one of them hinder the liver’s ability to work efficiently — especially Accutane. The impact is so great that patients taking this drug are told to avoid alcohol and monitor their liver enzymes during treatment.

How to Love Up the Liver

Many people assume that the only way to clean out the liver is through a restrictive juice cleanse. Thankfully, you can support it through food, as well. 

For my client, Yvette, we did just that.

We made sure she was of course drinking at least 2L of filtered water a day (which included some liver supportive teas like burdock and nettle). Diet wise, I also had her eating at least three cups of cruciferous vegetables each week. This family of vegetables (that includes kale, broccoli, and cauliflower) contain nutrients that amp up liver detoxification.

Other foods like dark leafy greens, beets, garlic, citrus, avocado, and turmeric were also on Yvette’s menu. Each one of them contains potent liver detoxifying nutrients.

It’s important to note something here, though.

When you are detoxifying the liver, your skin can get worse temporarily. This is completely normal and usually calms down within a week or two.

For a complete list of liver-loving, make sure to download my free Glowing Skin guide. I also included a number of other easy daily detoxification practices you can be adding in to your day.

End Goal

When I take my clients through The Clear Skin Solution, we are (of course) working to get rid of their acne. We do this by healing the body which, in turn, resolves a number of other not so fun day-to-day symptoms. Most people think these symptoms are normal and may not even realize they are signs from the body that something is off inside.

After 4 months of working to get her gut healed and liver detoxified, Yvette’s skin completely cleared up. Not to mention her headaches, fatigue and brain fog also disappeared. Like I said, those extra day-to-day symptoms we become complacent with.

I know from personal experience that when you’re dealing with acne, you feel hopeless. You’ve tried every product and prescription on the market. But you have to know this. True healing comes from the inside out.

And more importantly, getting rid of your acne is 100% possible — no matter how long you’ve been dealing with it. I have clients who, after 20 years of dealing with chronic breakouts, are finally free from them.

Want to go more in-depth?

Listen to our podcast episode “The Detox Organs Wreaking Havoc On Your Skin“ here!