FAQs

1. Once you set up an appointment, you’ll receive intake paperwork to fill out. The form lets me know the history of your acne symptoms and overall health, along with any treatments you’ve tried so far.
2. During the first visit, we’ll go over your health history in-depth and arrange for hormone testing.
3. Once your hormone results come in, we’ll meet again to review them and go over your treatment plan.
4. The treatment plan will include natural hormone balancing remedies, lifestyle changes, mind-body techniques, and supportive skincare tips that are customized for you. The plan may also include treatments for gut and immune health depending on your symptoms.
5. Follow-up appointments are every 1-2 months until you get the desired results, and then return visits are scheduled as needed.

Typically, it takes between 1 to 3 months to start noticing clearer skin. The benefits often continue to increase with time and with consistency in following the treatment plan.

Naturopathic doctors attend accredited 4-year programs to get their doctorate degree in naturopathic medicine. They are trained during that time in the sciences and how to be a clinician. Though in some states naturopaths can prescribe medications, their focus tends to lie in using natural and minimally invasive therapies first and only turning to pharmaceuticals when necessary.

The body’s physical health can affect our thoughts, emotions, and stress levels and vice versa. In other words, it’s a two-way street. This mind-body (or mind-skin) connection is driven by our natural hormones. Stress or unacknowledged thoughts and emotions can upset hormone balance and create symptoms of acne or worsen existing symptoms.

It’s common for someone with acne to deal with discouraging thoughts just as much as, if not more than the physical symptoms of acne. Thinking about acne all the time and fixating on breakouts can be particularly challenging.

Fixating on acne can create more stress over time, which can then create more acne. It often turns into a cycle. This cycle can take up time in your life that you’d rather be spending doing other things, and it can also impede health and healing for the skin. Treating acne using mind-body techniques in addition to treating it on a physical level gives you tools to not only improve symptoms for the short-term, but also to help prevent breakouts in the long run.

The mind-body approach for treating hormonal acne involves:

• naturally re-establishing hormone balance
• supporting the body’s adrenal response (stress response)
• treating the gut and immune system
• healing and strengthening the skin’s protective lipid barrier
• re-directing thoughts and emotions so that they don’t constantly revolve around acne
• treating the underlying or root causes of acne

Conventional or allopathic medicine treats acne using topical and/or oral pharmaceutical medications. These drugs may offer fast results for some patients, but they carry the risk of side effects including a damaged skin barrier. They also don’t address the root causes of an individual’s acne and therefore can create dependence on the treatment for clear skin.