Acne Post-Op

Hi All,

In two weeks, I will be six months out from surgery. I've been doing great with minimal issues from RNY. I haven't lost much hair and my new pouch has been doing great. However, since my surgery my skin has... exploded. I had acne prior to surgery but it was manageable. But after surgery, literally the week after... my skin went BOOM. Initially, I thought it was just my body purging all of the toxins as I was living off of fluids. But it only progressively got worse and my family doc referred me to a dermatologist.

I spoke to my bariatric clinic during my 1 month and 3 month appointment-- my surgeon and my NP both said they have never had patients complain about acne after surgery. But my nutritionist said she certainly has. So I was extremely confused lol.

anywhas, when I went to see my derm... she was hesistant to put me on anything besides a topical cream and an antibiotic because I had had surgery so recently. I have been using them religiously and basically nothing. When I went to see her again today, she brought up Accutane. She does not forsee it being an issue with RNY but I have to check with my clinic (they're closed today so I'll call them tomorrow).

I was wondering if anyone else has experienced acne post-op? Or if anyone has been on accutane post-op? Let me know :) thank you!!!

The only thing that I could surmise is a hormone dumping because when I had gone through my acne phase they told me that it was because of hormones!

I'm sorry to hear you're having that difficulty. I haven't, but I have read that some people have had relief from acne with Proactive. I have no idea if this would be a viable solution for you, or if you want to try it out before you try out a medicinal route... but I thought I'd throw it out there just in case.

I hope you find a solution that works for you.

It might be hormones. I was a licensed TCM practitioner before I retired and often saw skin issues. Here's something to consider: since you had an acne problem before you had surgery and it's now gotten worse, it's possible that it's a dairy intolerance. Dairy intolerance often shows up in the skin. And it's not at all unusual that RNY brings out dairy intolerance. If that's the problem, getting dairy out of your diet will clear most of it up very quickly. Us you have to get rid of all dairy: milk, yogurt, butter, cheese, and read the labels on any prepared food to make sure they are dairy free.

so sorry you're having this problem. An allergist can also find out of that's the problem, and what aspect of dairy is causing it. If it's casein, then you can't tolerate goat or sheeps milk either. But there are some proteins in cows milk that aren't in sheep or goats milk, so feta cheese would be ok. If you have asthma and acne it's dairy.

Pauline